Fractured
by Titansgirl-otherstuff
Summary: Amy breaks her leg and Sonic, feeling guilty, decides to spend time with her while she recovers. Will things work out for our favorite couple? Or will more than just a leg be broken?
1. Ouch

It was, as usual, a beautiful day on the planet Mobius! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, Sonic the hedgehog was running, and Amy was chasing. Sonic wasn't going full speed, of course; that could discourage even the most relentless fan - which Amy wasn't very far from anyway. Just fast enough to stay ahead of the girl; it was a common activity (almost a game, really) for both of them.

"Sonic! Just slow down a _little_!" Amy called, already sprinting even though the cobalt hedgehog in front of her was accelerating away without breaking a sweat.

Sonic merely smirked and began to speed up a little. Amy copied, pushing herself to go as fast as she could, and keeping her eyes locked far ahead on the dwindling sight of her hero. With her sights fixed so far ahead, she paid little to no attention on her own footsteps. Suddenly, her right leg seemed to fall out from under her and she didn't realize until too that her foot had fallen into a carelessly abandoned mole hole.

Amy gasped quickly before yelling out in pain, immediately falling to the ground and clutching the throbbing leg tightly in her hands, as if to hold the sting where it was rather than allowing it to spread up to her perception. It didn't work, of course, so she could only sit there crying out in agony until Sonic heard and came rushing back. Upon seeing the pink hedgehog's pained expression, he collected her gently into his arms and rushed straight to Tails with no questioning whatsoever.

After they had quieted the still yelling girl, Tails did a quick examination of her leg in his medical infirmary. Sonic decided to stick around and make sure Amy was okay before taking off again, but was met by Tails wearing a somewhat grim expression as he exited his room for the analysis.

"She's got a broken leg," Tails announced, causing Sonic's eyes to widen as he woke from the half nap he had fallen into, "here, see?" Handing Sonic the x-ray and pointing out the break, he added, "It's right at the knee joint, so she shouldn't be able to move or bend her leg at all for at least six weeks."

"SIX WEEKS?" Amy yelled from the other room, having been purposefully excluded by Tails until he gave Sonic the full run-down.

"STAY!" Tails yelled back-almost as if commanding a pet-gesturing for Sonic to come into the room with him to prevent Amy's further protesting.

She sat obediently still on the little examination bench, arms crossed and her eyes matching in a glare, though her mouth contrasted the angry facade as it hung agape. "You're kidding, right?" she demanded and Tails shook his head warily.

"I can take the cast off every-"

"CAST?" she groaned, cutting off the enduring fox.

"Yes, cast," Tails said finally, "which I can take off for you every week or so to check the progress of the healing. But you will need a cast, which will prevent you from bending you leg and walking until the bone grows back." He handed her the x-ray and pointed out the little chip in her knee joint, "After that, you'll have to take some time in physical therapy and work slowly, but I'd say you should be back to normal in about two months, if everything goes right."

"TAILS!" Amy yelled, her voice jumping up several octaves, "Two. MONTHS?"

"It's not that bad," Sonic attempted to comfort, which only earned him a glare.

"Sonic's right; it could be worse. At least you won't need any surgery or anything; if the bone had been separated any more you might have needed it, which could've taken six _months_ rather than weeks."

"Like…how much more?"

"Well, it should be fine as long as you can keep your leg completely still; I'll put a cast on in a minute, but even then you'll have to make sure to be careful," Tails warned, causing Amy to cringe slightly.

"Okay," she groaned, knowing that she'd have to be good about this if she wanted to be back on her feet any time soon. _And the sooner the better; who knows what Sonic could get into in six weeks? _She thought.

**~~~. . .~~~**

Later that day, Vanilla and Cream-pretty much the only ones on the team to own a normal car-came over to Tails's workshop to pick Amy up and take her home.

"So what happened to your leg anyway?" Cream inquired.

"I was running after Sonic and I fell in some old hole," she admitted timidly.

"Oh, well I hope you're alright," Vanilla said over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I'll be good as new in no time!" Amy tried hopefully, attempting to make herself believe the words.

"It's a good thing Tails is such an amazing doctor! He'll be able to help you get better," Cream built onto the cheerful atmosphere.

"And you know you're always welcome to stay with us until you're feeling better, dear." Vanilla offered.

"No, I'll be fine; besides, I'll see you everyday anyway. Thanks for the offer, though." Amy said politely and Vanilla nodded.

Amy smiled and settled back into the seat. She could put on a happy face at least while she was with Cream; there would be six whole weeks to mope at home, anyway. One car ride playing cheerful couldn't hurt, after all.

Meanwhile, Sonic stuck around to visit with Tails awhile.

"Amy's pretty bummed about this, huh?" Tails began after waving goodbye to the others.

"Yeah; I feel really bad about it," Sonic sighed.

"Why is that?"

"Because… I feel sorta responsible for everything. We were…well, she was just chasing me, like we do every day, when she tripped in the hole."

"Well that doesn't make it entirely your fault or anything," Tails comforted while tossing Sonic a soda.

"Yeah, but if I had waited a little, she might have been watching where she was going and seen the hole." Sonic protested as they both slumped onto the couch.

"Well you know what you can do to make up for it?"

"No, what?"

"Amy's gonna be pretty lonely stuck at home all day while Cream's at school or I'm working on my ship; you don't have anything to do, so you should go and hang out with her."

"Huh, really?"

"Well yeah! And she wouldn't have to stay home as long as you were with her and you make her stay off that leg, so neither of you could get too bored."

"Really?"

"Of course! If she stays on those crutches or a wheelchair or something it should be fine; just you'd be responsible for making her."

"I can do that," Sonic affirmed.

"Plus, I know Amy would like spending time with you; she gets upset when she can never catch up to you anyway, but she probably feels pretty hopeless if she can't even walk."

"That's a great idea! Thanks lil' buddy!" Sonic said, ruffling Tails's fur a little, "Cream and Vanilla will probably hang out there for now, but I'll go over first thing tomorrow!"

***Singing*: AUTHOR'S NOOOOTE! (Which is F sharp, by the way :P) Hahahahahahaha! I'm writing a fan fiction! I haven't been writing anything on my own in so long (and what I do I don't feel like posting) and now I'm so HYPER because I started my OWN FIC! My sissy's proud of me too, since I never let her read any of the lame stuff I write! :P **

**For those of you who have no idea who I am (:() I co-author with Shadow Talon girl (sissy) on Sonic X Blooper. For those of you who don't know what that is, LOOK IT UP BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME! Anyway, in the past I've only written Teen Titans fics, a Gallagher Academy poem, and one Twi-fic I co-authored, but I haven't even done those in a while. **

**I've been OBSSESED with Sonic for about a year now—ever since we all started watching Sonic X—and I could never find an idea I like enough to post, but now I have! :D So yeah; at first I was just thinking of a one-shot, but once I got out this chapter, I figured it'll have to be more! So maybe it'll be a two-shot, maybe a multi-chapter, but either way depends on whether or not I get some readers. And, of course, the only way I know I'm getting readers is if you ALL REVIEW!**

**Well, thanks for reading the first chapter and I hope you can help me out with some feedback so that I can know whether or not anyone's even going to read this! I'll tell you now, though, that this will probably be more fluffy than hard-core romance, but that's only because I want to keep everyone in character. Hope you guys are up for that; constructive criticism TOTALLY allowed, just I want your opinions! Thanks guys, and hope to be back soon! :D**


	2. Reluctance

Tails woke up late the next morning, around 10:00, and went outside for his daily routine of fetching the newspaper. On his way out, Tails glanced up to admire the beaming sunshine, hardly any clouds in the sky to block out its radiating warmth. As he did so, though, he noticed a certain blue hedgehog way up on the top of his roof. He knew Sonic wasn't one for sleeping in, so he must've just been up there to think.

"HeySonic! What are you doing?" called up the kitsune.

Sonic turned his attention to the fox on the ground and decided to jump down to better communicate with him. "Nothing really, just watching the clouds." He shrugged.

"Weren't you going over to see Amy?" Tails asked, somewhat confused.

Sonic shrugged, "Well, what if she's mad at me or something?"

"Why would she be? She knows it's not your fault that she fell," Tails tried.

"Well if it wasn't then why would I go over anyway?"

"Just last night you were all pumped about making it up to her! What happened to that attitude?"

Sonic shrugged, "I guess I just started thinking about it and…"

"And what?"

"What if she won't let me leave or something? I mean, I don't mind hanging out with her sometimes, but she can get…clingy."

"Well duh! She's _Amy_!" Tails said as if that explained everything somehow, "and what's she going to do if you want to leave anyway? I mean, she can't exactly chase after you or anything."

"That's true, but…" Sonic trailed off, having run out of excuses.

"Sonic, do you even know how stubborn you are?" the fox groaned, "I think you should go and see her; Amy's going to be bored out of her mind if she's there alone all day!"

"Why can't you go see her?"

"Because I've got some building that needs to get done, plus you know she'd be happier to see _you_ anyway," Tails said and Sonic harrumphed, having run out of reasons not to go.

Across town, a pink hedgehog sat on her couch, almost constantly shifting her position trying to find a comfortable way to lie. With her knee set in a cast of a perfect 90 degree angle, she found it hard to sit easily. Her most common attempt was to have her leg elevated on the sofa's arm rest while laying flat on her back turned away from it, a book held at arm's length above her. Unfortunately, though, this position never satisfied for long and she was forced to near constantly change it.

"Ugh!" she groaned, letting the book fall over her face, "Why does this have to be so complicated? How come I can't just…ugh!" she groaned again, realizing she was talking to herself. "These are going to be the _longest _two months of my LIFE!"

Amy regretted her inability to sleep late, having been up for two hours, having spent an hour before even _that_ trying to go back to sleep, since 7:00. After that, it had taken her a full half hour just to get down the stairs carefully on her crutches and make herself breakfast. Ever since then, she had tried to occupy herself with a book she'd gotten earlier that week, but could never focus for more than a few paragraphs before her stubborn leg decided to fall asleep and make her, yet again, shift positions.

With the book still against her face, she was startled by the sudden noise of a knock on her door. She pushed the book aside onto a table and looked around for her pair of crutches. Unfortunately, they were, for some strange reason, leaning on the far side of a chair across the room. Struggling to stretch over to them rather than just hopping, the girl decided she would just have to drop her courtesy and holler for the guest to let themselves in.

"It's unlocked, come in!" she called, hearing the front door open and latch back into place.

Rather than the sound of footstep preceding it, the visitor suddenly appeared by the couch before Amy could even reach the accursed crutches.

"Need a hand?" Sonic offered, startling her, as she didn't expect him to have appeared so suddenly that near her.

"Ah! How did you…oh, it's you." Amy laughed slightly, "no, I can get it." She insisted, still stretching her arm out in vain.

"Yeah, sure looks like it." Sonic said, about to push them a little closer to her.

"No, let me!" she demanded and Sonic held his hands up in defense. Eventually, Amy ended up standing up on one foot and using the table in front of the couch to balance her other leg on so she could reach them. "See, I told you."

"Yeah, and to think I thought you'd need help," Sonic said sarcastically, rolling his eyes at her obdurateness.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" she changed the subject.

"I came to see if you wanted to hang out."

Amy's eyes widened in slight surprise and she blinked a few times, "seriously?"

"Yeah; so…you want to?" Amy thought for a moment, trying to make sense of the situation. "I understand if you don't feel like doing anything, just-"

"No!" Amy interrupted, "I've been going insane with dullness; I'd LOVE to do something! It's just…"

"What?"

"Are you only offering because you feel sorry for me or something? Because you _never_ offer to hang out with me, and then I break my leg and you're suddenly…willing," she said without further hindrance.

"No, that's not it! Well…I do feel bad because it's sort of my fault you got hurt in the first place, but Tails suggested I came and…I can leave if you want me-"

"No, I don't want you to leave!" Amy persisted, leaning over to grab his arm and prevent him from turning away. "I'm really glad you came; Tails said I can't do _anything_ alone and if you're with me at least I wouldn't have to just lay around pretending to read." She groaned, gesturing to the book on the table.

"Pretending?"

"At this point, I'm so bored I was really just kinda staring at it wondering what it said. I can't even focus anymore," Amy explained and Sonic nodded knowingly.

"Okay, so what do you want to do?"

"_Anything_! Just get me out of here!" Amy demanded.

Sonic smirked at the idea, carefully lifting her so that her cast was undisturbed and that she could keep a hold on the set of crutches before taking off. Where he would take her, though, was a complete mystery.

**Wow, I just sat down thinking I'd start typing it and got the whole chapter done! Any guesses where Sonic could possibly feel like going? Because I don't really know yet. 0_0 Reviews would be helpful and suggestions even more! :) I'm really happy with the feedback I got on the last chapter and I hope you all will take time to review this one. I love hearing from readers; you don't have to be long or anything, just a little ":)" or "nice chapter"** **or, on the other extreme,** **"Wow this sucks. Do better". Just something to let me know there are actually people out there who are waiting for an update or even just read one chapter. I just like hearing from you guys! :D**

**Anyway, I hope you liked this and, again, constructive criticism is appreciated, as long as you're giving helpful advice I can use to make the story better! Please review and I'd love to hear where you guys think Sonic might be headed. Otherwise, I'll just have to be creative with it—which isn't good for any one, because I might just put them somewhere stupid like Sonic's tree house. (Lolz, little inside joke there for anyone familiar with "Sonic X Bloopers"). :P Thanks guys, and happy reviewing! ;)**


	3. Amy's Meadow

Amy flinched slightly from the sudden rush of movement, wrapping her arms tightly around Sonic to keep from being too jostled.

"Where are we going?" she demanded, but Sonic ignored the question and answered with just a smirk.

Amy used one arm to keep the crutches from falling or smacking either of them in the face. She squinted her eyes shut to try to ignore the impossibly quickly passing scenery and the queasy feeling that was near certain to accompany it. After what seemed like the longest few minutes of her life—when actuality it would have been several hours if not for Sonic's speed—he stopped quite suddenly, causing her to squeal and grab him tighter as to not go flying from his grasp.

"We're here," Sonic said coolly.

Amy pried her eyes open, gasping as she took in the surroundings. They were in a beautiful meadow surrounded by mountains, almost like an isolated little cup of serenity. The grass was a soft light green that stretched up to knee-height and an array of colored flowers sprinkled their way across the field.

Amy took in a slow, stunned breath, squirming to the ground on her one good foot. She used a crutch to balance as she spun to see the full area. On one side was a thin but sparkling waterfall, cascading into a shallow stream that roamed through the field. Near the edges in front of the mountains were a spread of trees, all different sizes and shades of stately greens, some even with flower buds or fruits hangings on to the over-weighed branches.

Everything around was so lush and fertile, Amy had almost forgotten about her annoyance to Sonic's unwarned transportation. Normally she didn't mind-in fact really enjoyed-his sudden schemes if he took her at his super speed. The only reason it particularly irked her now was that, for one thing, she had no warning whatsoever of being whisked from her home, and for another, she was still in her pajamas! Of course the red sweat pants and undershirt did technically make an acceptable outfit, but she would have been much more comfortable if in her regular dress either way.

Once this thought had re-dawned on her, she turned to Sonic with an irritated look and punched him judiciously in the arm.

"What was that for?" he asked, confused but not in any real pain.

"For…not giving me any warning," she decided, putting on a face of aggravation.

Sonic chuckled slightly. "So you wanna go back home?"

"NO!" Amy yelled, "It's beautiful here; I LOVE it so don't take me back just because of that! I'm sorry; you just surprised me is all!" she said breathlessly.

"Hmm, I don't know…" Sonic smirked.

Amy groaned and slowly lowered herself to the groaned. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "It's just…so lovely here; like a story or a movie or something."

"There's a lot of nice places on Mobius I don't think anybody's found, but this one is one of my favorites for sure," he agreed, laying down in the tall grass next to her.

"You found it on one of your runs, right?" Sonic nodded, "you must find a lot of cool places, being able to go wherever whenever you want."

Sonic shrugged, deciding not to boast his ability as to not mock the immobilized girl. They both relaxed began to soak in the sunlight. Puffy white clouds rolled idly by, making the otherwise flawless sky and scenery complete. It was such a beautiful place that Amy began wondering if perhaps it was a dream Why else would Sonic willingly hang out with her, after all?

"Sonic," Amy began boldly before she could loose her nerve, "am I dreaming?"

Sonic turned to her incredulously. "Yes, Amy; I'm just a figment of your imagination."

Amy bolted upright, her eyes growing larger and questioning. She reached over and poked him a few times in the shoulder, trying to deduce whether or not he was tangibly there. Then she held out her own arm and repeatedly pinched herself, causing Sonic to merely laugh. He took her hand to stop her from hurting herself but continued laughing at her erratic behavior.

"That was a total joke! Why would you ask such a silly thing?"

"Because this place is just so beautiful and unbelievable that…well, I _can't_ believe it!"

"But it's right here-"

"That _and_ the fact that you've never wanted to spend time with me willingly."

"That's not true; you know I like hanging out with you."

"Yeah right!"

"Yeah, it is right," he declared and Amy looked perplexed.

"Well you sure never act like it."

"No, it's just that I like to run and you always seemed satisfied chasing me, so I figured that was a good way for us to spend time together."

She turned to him quizzically. "Who are you and what have you done with the real Sonic?" Sonic laughed as she continued. "Seriously! Who are you; Shadow in disguise? Did Eggman rebuild Metal or something? I bet you kidnapped Sonic and he told you to say that because he knew I wouldn't believe it and I could notice something was up!"

"Calm down; I'm really me. Besides, what would Metal or Shadow have to gain by taking you to a lovely field or something?"

Amy shrugged stubbornly. "Maybe S_hadow's_ come to his senses and realized how pretty I am and wanted to get my attention."

Sonic laughed again. "Yeah, because Shadow's such the charmer, isn't he?"

"Fine; you're you," Amy finally agreed. They laughed for a moment before she continued, "But you still can't prove I'm not dreaming."

"Oh yes I can! Just tell me how," Sonic said relentlessly.

"Okay…does this place have a name?"

"No, why?"

"Well, if we give it a name then I can ask you about it sometime when I'm _sure_ I'm awake and you can tell me for sure whether or not any of this was real."

"That's practical," Sonic agreed, "but what do you want to name it?"

"_I_ can't name it! You're the one who found this place anyway."

"Fine, then I'll name it 'Amy's Place'."

"That's what you call my house and you can't name it after me; it's too pretty!"

"No it's not! Well, yeah it's pretty, but not _too_ pretty to have your name." Sonic said, pausing to wonder if he should have worded his sentence more carefully as he noticed the wave of color swept across Amy's cheeks. "Anyway…if not Amy's 'place', then what?"

"Well, it's more of a field or a valley than just a _place_…"

"Amy's Meadow!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Stop trying to name it after me!" Amy persisted, now blushing fiercely.

"No. When I found this place I barely even stopped for a minute, and that was to just scope around and see if anyone lived here. I probably wouldn't have ever really come back here if it weren't for the fact I wasn't sure what you'd want to do, so it's your place-err, meadow now." Sonic said finally, causing the girl to give up the argument.

"Okay, fine. Now all I have to do is wake up and prove you wrong."

"How come you keep insisting this is a dream?"

"Because nothing can _really_ be this perfect, can it?"

"I'd beg to differ," Sonic laughed at her naivety, "I'm officially making it my goal to prove to you in the next few weeks that there are plenty of things that can be perfect."

"Is that so?"

Sonic nodded. "You've got six weeks in that cast, so over that amount of time I plan to find at least six perfect things-at least one every week to be exact-and then you'll have to admit you were wrong!"

"What if you miss a week?"

"Well…how about as long as I have at least one by Friday every week, you're not allowed to use your hammer as a weapon or even threat on me or _anyone_…except maybe Eggman if he turns up."

"Am I even allowed to use it with this stupid leg? I mean, Tails gave me an infinite list of disabilities and some don't even have to do with my leg!"

"I'm gonna say no, but I might be a biased opinion."

"Gee, what would make you say that?"

"Well it's an absolute no if I have one by every Friday, okay?"

"Okay fine; but what if you can't get six by the end of the six weeks?"

"Then…" Sonic thought for a moment, "I'll spend all the time with you that you want for the two weeks after that you'll still be healing."

Amy giggled and stuck out her hand. "You're on, hedgehog; but I hope you're ready for eight fun-filled weeks of Amy."

**Ooooh! The bet's on! Now Sonic will HAVE to spend time with her in case he gets a sudden idea of perfection! Haha! Now I kind of have a direct plot; I totally didn't plan it this way, but you guys know how it is; I wrote it and liked it, so here it is! I love when stories write themselves as you go like that! :P Really all I had planned when I started this was the main idea and a few parts I'm going to put in eventually.**

**To Nikyy: Thanks so much for your idea! :3 I just love those pretty fields and it amazes me how many I find with no one around—of course, that's only in the summer; nothing's pretty in the winter if you ask me XP—so of course I had to give them a meadow! :D**

**Also, HBee16, I LOVE your idea too, so I'm definitely going to put that in one of these chapters, just not quite sure where yet. But yeah, I'm glad you told me, even if it did make me hungry! :P I'm probably going to keep begging my mom until we get the chance to make some of those, even if they're not from Mobius! And, yes, I know some of you readers have no idea what I'm talking about, but you can either check in a review if you're curious enough or just let it be a surprise!**

**Okay, well thanks for all of my great reviews so far and I can't wait to hear some more feedback from you guys! Any ideas for Sonic's pursuit for perfection will definitely be considered; like I said, I'm letting the story make itself as I go, so I don't have all of them planned out yet. There's always room for suggestions!**

**I didn't have time to spell check, so excuse-but feel free to point out-any grammatical or spelling errors. I'd love to hear from you all, but until then,**

**Peace, Love, REVIEWS! :) 3 **


	4. Back to Here

The time passed as easily and lazily as the clouds, drifting free of care across the clear blue sky. Without even noticing, the day began to slip by Sonic and Amy, who lay calmly out in the sun, enjoying the peace. Before either would have ever thought, noon rolled right by and the day kept on going without asking any permission to proceed. Amy, suddenly curious, glanced down at her wrist and gasped upon receiving the time.

"It's already 2:45!" she exclaimed.

"Is it? Huh," Sonic said nonchalantly.

"No, I mean…I didn't mean to stay here this long," Amy said, sitting up in a slight hustle.

"Do you need to be somewhere?" Sonic asked, feeling oddly disappointed that their nice peaceful day seemed to be meeting its end.

"Well…sort of. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Cream comes over to my house after school. She has after-school stuff Mondays and Thursdays and Vanilla always meets her on Friday, but today's Tuesday and I have to get home before her bus gets there."

"Okay," Sonic said, standing up and offering Amy his hand, "I can have you there in about four hours." Amy turned to him with her mouth hung agape, but he just laughed. "Just kidding, you know."

Amy groaned and hooked her crutches over her arm, hopping gently onto his back with her arms locked around his shoulders. "Well the busses run by my house around 3; how fast can we get there?"

"Time me," Sonic said with a cocky grin, hoisting her up and carefully wrapping his arms around her thighs to hold her piggy-back style before blasting off back the way the had come.

After a very short series of different colored blurs, Sonic stopped on a dime right in front of Amy's house. She looked at her watch again and then up to him with an astounded smile. "Seven minutes and 28 seconds. And who knows how far you went just to get back?"

Sonic shrugged and walked her to the door, setting her down on the top step. "Maybe I'll get a step-counter and figure out some time."

"Yeah, because I'm sure you wouldn't break it within the first millisecond," Amy laughed, opening the door and inviting him in. "Well I had a really good time today; thank you, Sonic."

"No problem; I know how board I'd be if _I_ was stuck home all day, so it's the least I can do. You wanna do something again tomorrow?" he offered, not even thinking about the words until they had already escaped his mouth.

"Maybe; I usually clean on Wednesdays, but we'll just have to see how that works out. But either way, would you mind coming over Thursday? I'll have some places to go and stuff and I'm not allowed to go alone," she pouted.

"Yeah, I guess that's fine. If you need anything before then, though…"

"I'll call Tails to get to you; it's not like _you'd_ ever answer a phone call anyway."

Sonic shrugged coyly, giving her a quick smile and stepping towards the door. "Well, gotta run; see ya Ames!" and with that, he sped away.

Amy sighed contentedly, leaning back against the wall with a knowing smile. "Bye Sonic," she whispered, mostly to herself, as she knew the speedster was long gone by now either way.

…

Cream arrived not more than a few minutes later, skipping in the open door and setting her orange backpack neatly against the wall between the entrance hall and kitchen. She turned in towards Amy, who had taken a seat at one of the kitchen chairs.

"Hi Amy," the rabbit greeted cheerfully.

"Hello Cream; how was your day?"

"It was good; we had a pop quiz in History, but I think I did really well!"

"That's great! I was always terrible at history; I'm glad you're able to get along well with it."

"But at least you can do math; I've got lots of homework for it and I couldn't keep up with my notes today," she admitted sounding disappointed.

"Well I'll help you with that; I'm sure we can fill in the rest of your notes too. Would you like a snack first, though?" Amy offered and Cream nodded happily.

After sitting down for a quick round celery and peanut butter with an apple, they dove into the organized stacks of paper in Cream's backpack. First they filled in the missing parts of her math notes and then went ahead to science, which she could do mostly on her own, giving Amy the time to take care of the day's dished. Next, Amy sat down and helped explain a few tricks about multiplying and Cream finished the rest of her worksheets with only a little extra help.

Now that homework was out of the way, the girls commenced their normal pass-time of finding and trying out new recipes. Usually they would experiment with cookies or pies, but every now and then the girls would create a whole new soup or pasta dish, giving a good reason for Cream and her mother to stay over for dinner once Vanilla got there.

"So did you do anything today, Amy? I hope you weren't too board with your leg all wrapped up like that," Cream said kindly as they set into a batch of brownies.

"No, I wasn't too board; Sonic actually came over to keep me company," she said, the subtle hint of bragging in her voice.

"That must've been nice; it's been awhile since he hung out with you."

"Mhm; he took me to this wonderful meadow out in the country somewhere. Oh, it was so beautiful, Cream, that I thought I was dreaming! Maybe I was, but it was still just so perfect!"

"Wow that sounds amazing! Did Sonic find it on a run one day?"

"Yep and he said he hasn't been there since. I don't know if anyone's seen it before, because I'm just sure there would be a house or something there if they had, but I didn't see anyone around."

"So maybe you were the second person to ever see it!"

"Maybe; that would be really cool."

Cream nodded in agreement as they launched into a topic switch to Cream's day.

A little while later, Vanilla came to pick up Cream and they both went home, leaving Amy, yet again, stuck home alone. It was already 5:30, so she decided to make herself dinner; an overloaded backed potato with some re-heated roast. An hour or so later, Amy found herself beginning to feel drowsy and decided it was time to conquer the tedious task of climbing the stairs to her bedroom on one foot.

…

Back over at Tails's place, Sonic arrived an hour or so after leaving Amy, since he had taken a detour for a quick jog. He blasted by Tails in his workshop and didn't slow until he reached his room at the far end of the enormous building.

"Hey Sonic!" Tails called loudly so the speedy hedgehog could hear him.

"Hiya little buddy!" Sonic said, returning instantly after figuring out where his fox friend had been.

"Did you and Amy have a good time? What did you do?"

"Nothing much," Sonic shrugged, "I took her to a field somewhere near the coast," he pointed to the west to signify which coast he was referring to.

"That's cool; did she like it?"

"Try love! At one point she was convinced it was a dream," Sonic chuckled.

"That's funny; and I'm sure you had a good time too, right?"

Sonic nodded once with a shrug. "I thought she'd be like she usually is-all over me or something-but she seemed really cool with it and everything. It was…nice," he admitted.

"Well it's not like she acts that way _completely _unconsciously; I'm sure Amy will try her best to not scare you off for as long as you'll be there to keep her company," Tails said, a knowing smile at his best friend's reluctance to admit he had enjoyed himself.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Tails. She said she'd be busy at her house tomorrow, so I'm not sure if I'll go over there yet. But I definitely will Thursday."

"That's nice. Well, it's getting late; what do you want for supper?"

"Chili dogs!" Sonic exclaimed predictably, causing the fox to emit a slight groan. He enjoyed chili dogs nearly as much as his speedy friend, but wanted to insert some variety into their evening meal time.

"How about spaghetti?" Tails offered.

"With sauce?"

"Yes," Tails agreed, "of course we'll have sauce."

"Spicy meat sauce?" Sonic verified.

"Sure," Tails agreed, beginning to catch on to his game.

"_Chili _sauce?

Tails sighed reluctantly. "If that's what you want."

Sonic smiled before running off again, knowing they'd both be in grave danger if he tried to make it so, out of pure generosity towards their stomachs, left Tails to make the food.

…

Without even the use of her knee to half crawl up, it took her nearly five whole minutes to finish the four second activity. She got to the top step and laid across the floor, letting out a long groan.

"Either get used to it or move to the couch for awhile," she told herself, a light bulb flashing on in her mind. "That's actually not too bad an idea; I'll try to remember that in the morning to-" she stopped short there, realizing that she was actually speaking aloud to herself. Upon this thought, the pink hedgehog groaned again, knowing these six weeks may feel like years in the end.

She went ahead to the bathroom down the hallway to brush her teeth and wash her face. Next was her bedroom, just next door, which she hobbled into sleepily. With some effort, the exchanged her sweats for a pair of comfy shorts and slipped on an oversized T-shirt to sleep in, rather than staying in the unintended outfit she had used for the days advances.

Finally, the exhausted girl was able to lay her crutches against the wall and fall onto the bed. She met the difficult task of setting a bent leg comfortably across the bed but was eventually able to manage. After several minutes of star gazing out the window her bed pointed towards, she was able to drift away into the peaceful dark abyss of sleep.

**Yay! I've finished chapter four! I know this took forever and I'm sorry about that, but it's here now! I hope you all enjoyed this one-even if there was nothing that eventful-and I'll be doing my best to get another one out ASAP! It's 11:11! I wish for a midget! …0_0…oookay…I did not mean that at all! Why do wish always wish stupid stuff? And once I've thought it I can't take it back! Grrr! That's why I've already planned my next birthday wish ahead of time (SWEET SIXTEEN NEXT MONTH! YEESSS! :D). **

**Anyway, I'd really appreciate if you guys would take a quick minute to review-the more reviews, the faster I'll update ;) -and thanks for reading! **

**P.s. I wrote the 11:11 thing last night; it's not really almost noon or anything for me right now. And since I didn't get to post last night, I can say this now! TGIF! (Try gerbils if [you're] fun! Jk :P) Happy Friday everyone! WHOO-HOO! **


	5. Cleaning Day

Amy woke up the next morning around 7 to the sound of birds chiming their merry tune outside her window. With an unusually glum mood, she almost wished it weren't there to try to brighten the dark aura she felt complimenting her bent-up leg. For the first time since she had hurt it, it was throbbing with an irritating wavering ache. Determined to not let it ruin her day, she grit her teeth and forced herself up from the comforting bed.

She made the bed very carefully, knowing it would probably be awhile before she risked another trip up or down the stairs. With that in mind, she collected a few items she would need to keep downstairs until she was up to the trek again-a hamper of clothes and pajamas she would wash today and circulate between wearing, most of which being multiples of her usual red dress anyway, her favorite fluffy red pillow, toothbrush and hairbrush, boots, a few blankets, and a few etc's. With everything collected in a messy pile, she began going back and forth from her room to the stairs, merely tossing everything down the narrow stairway hall and leaving it in a scattered heap at the bottom. Then she began her own climb down the dreaded mountain of 18 simple steps that could take up to a full half hour to safely conquer on one foot.

Finally, she reached the ground floor and scrapped together all the abused necessities strewn across the floor into a one conjoined lump, to be later distributed to each item's respective places on this floor. For now, though, she was in dire need of breakfast. She hobbled to the kitchen and fixed a peanut-buttered bagle-with the perfect soft, warm inside and toasty crunchy shell surrounding it. Trying to savor the bites slowly, she was caught with her jaw just closing down on the bread by her home phone ringing its sharp pinch of noise.

Startled, she squealed loudly and nearly fell out of the chair, catching the table before her chair could tip from her jolt of movement. She swallowed the jagged lump of the half-chewed bite and hopped quickly to the phone before the caller could hang up.

"Hello?" she addressed, trying to clear the dryness in her throat before she had to speak a full sentence.

"Hi, Amy, dear," Vanilla's soothing voice chimed.

"Oh, hi Vanilla! I thought you'd be at work or something by now," Amy said, relieved to hear the always sweet mother of her best friend.

"Well, usually I would, but today they told me to take off. I know Wednesday is your cleaning day and you shouldn't be trying anything like that with your leg all messed up, so I was going to come over and help you out."

"Okay, thanks," Amy said politely, though knowing the gratitude wouldn't be required; the three of them were probably among the closest in the group-not counting Sonic and Tails-and would always help out without a word of request.

If Amy went to see them, she'd undoubtedly help with dishes or Cream cleaning her room and the same for them. There was no thanks necessary, really, though they would often follow their better nature and give it just the same.

"About what time would be convenient for you? I can come either now or later if you're already doing something."

"If you'll give me about an hour or so, that would be best, but it's not really important to me either way; I'll be here all day," Amy laughed.

"Alright, well I can come in an hour or so."

"Perfect! I'll see you then," they finished the conversation and hung up together.

Amy hurried through the now lukewarm bagle and started a load of laundry, changing into a clean outfit resting on the dryer. Afterwards, she sifted through the remaining items at the bottom of the steps and distributing them to their correct room and places, some in the downstairs bathroom and a few on or next to the living room sofa. After a tedious 45 minutes, she had finished removing the accumulation of belongings from the steps and sat down for a brief rest before Vanilla arrived.

**~~~…~~~**

Across town, Sonic woke up on the roof outside his top floor bedroom in the house/workshop he accommodated with Tails. The sun shone bright and hot and pierced through the darkness behind his eyelids. Reluctantly, he blinked away the remainder of sleep from his groggy head and didn't hesitate to jump back in his open window. Flying down the stairs and coming to an abrupt halt in the kitchen, he startled Tails with the sudden confrontation as the fox ate his breakfast cereal.

"Hiya, little buddy!" the hyper hedgehog greeted.

"Ah!" Tails yelped, nearly knocking his bowl off the table, "Sonic, you know better than to sneak up on me, especially when I'm eating!"

"Sorry; what time is it?"

Tails sighed, knowing Sonic's behavior would never change as he squinted towards the clock across the room. "About 9:00; pretty late for you, huh?"

Sonic shrugged, "I was out late since night runs are better in the spring; definitely not my latest though."

"Yeah, I remember last summer you slept until 10 or 11 a few times; I thought you were sick or something for awhile," they both laughed.

After pouring and eating his own full bowl of cereal, Sonic slipped away from his friend to call Amy rather discretely. She picked up the phone after an entire four rings, really rather late for her, since she kept a phone in practically every room of her house, but answered with her always polite greeting.

"Amy Rose, may I ask whose calling?"

"Hey Ames," Sonic began, "it's me; how's it goin'?"

"Oh, hi Sonic! I'm fine; I can't believe you even know my number, though," she teased.

"Well Tails has it written down, but I did know it without checking," Sonic bragged, hearing her giggle momentarily.

"Well that's nice; thanks!"

"So were you busy today, or did you give up the crazy independence act already?"

"No, Vanilla came over to help me out with a few chores around the house. You don't have to worry or anything; I've got the day occupied."

"Fine by me," he said carelessly, trying to hide his slight disappointment that he didn't have another chance to hang out with her. '_But…why again, exactly, would that be a regret?'_ He wondered.

"But you will come over tomorrow, right? I really need you to come with me so I can leave and go to town for a few errands and, according to Tails, I'll do something horribly wrong if I go alone," she said in a slightly protesting tone.

"Sure thing; just tell me when you'd like me to be over."

"Oh goody! I don't really care when; just come on over and you can even let yourself in; it'll probably take me an hour to get to the door if you knock," she admitted sarcastically.

Sonic chuckled. "That's okay; I'll see you at whenever o'clock then," Sonic joked.

Amy giggled and said goodbye, both of them hanging up. Sonic was headed to the front door but was met by Tails, standing just around the corner of the living room in which Sonic had made his call. Startled by the fox's unknown presence, Sonic jumped back a step and looked to him somewhat nervously.

"Oh, hey buddy! You scared me," he laughed unconvincingly.

"Who was that? _Amy_?" he asked, drawing out her name in a teasing way.

"Yeah, why? Heh heh," Sonic chuckled, clearing his throat and shaking off the strange feeling of uneasiness.

"Oh, no reason. But why did you call her?" Tails asked, the full effect of accusation evident in his voice.

"How do you know she didn't call me?"

"Because I would've heard the phone ring."

"Oh, right…" Sonic said hesitantly.

"Why are you so nervous?" Tails questioned, suddenly formulating a devious plan.

"I'm…not," Sonic tried, hoping to convince himself as well; after all, why would he be just from his best friend's suspicion about something that wasn't even real, as far as he was concerned.

"Are you going over again?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"She's busy."

"What's she doing?"

"Vanilla was helping her clean."

"When are you going back?"

"Tomorrow."

"Do you want to?"

"Of course."

"Do you like Amy?"

"Yeah," Sonic answered, following the stream of questions and only stopping to think about the answer after it had flown from his mouth. "Hey!" he said, practically tackling the fox who was now laughing hysterically.

"I _knew_ it! I did, I did!" he said and began sing-songing a taunt, "You _li-ike A-my_!You _li-ike _A-_my!" _he yelled at the top of his lungs as Sonic tried his best to shush him.

"Tails, be QUIET! What if Knuckles was walking by and heard you or something?"

"Knuckles never leaves his island, and the walls are practically soundproof anyway. But you like her! I mean you _like_ like her; I KNEW it!" he continued yelling and laughing, even though Sonic was holding him in a head-lock and trying his best to cover his mouth.

"Okay, fine. I like her. I _like_ like her, too, but it's none of your business to go yelling it out to all of Mobius! We're _friends_ and I like it that way! I know that she'd be thrilled to hear it, but don't go blabbing it to her or _anyone_!" Sonic threatened.

"I won't; promise! But you know how much she likes-and I mean _like_ likes-you too; it would totally work if you tell her!"

"I know it would _work_, and that I might even like it better, but I'm not in any mood to risk it if it didn't. Not right now, at least. Trust me, Tails; I'll tell her sometime, but I'm not in any hurry to get there."

"But you're _always _in a hurry for _everything_!"

"Yeah, but like I said; I like things how they are. We're really great friends and I'd like to get my fill of it that way before going to a whole new level! That's why I have to be so careful; if she found out I liked her like that, she wouldn't give a second thought to being friends one minute longer! It'd be dating or nothing."

Tails contemplated this for a moment and Sonic let him out of the hold he had on him. "Okay, I get it. I promise not to tell anyone and I won't bug you about it. As long as you promise not to let this change anything; you still have to tell her eventually and you can't put it off just because I know."

Sonic groaned and stuck out his hand reluctantly. "As long as it'll keep you from bugging me. For now, as far as you know, I just like her as a friend."

"Deal," they agreed, shaking hands before Sonic zipped past him and towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Tails called after him.

"On a run; see ya later!" Sonic called over his shoulder, disappearing into the distance almost instantly.

**~~~…~~~**

Back at Amy's house, she and Vanilla worked diligently sweeping and mopping the hard-wood floors of the majority of rooms. Vanilla did upstairs, where most of the floor was carpeted, vacuuming and straightening up the scarce messes among the three rooms-Amy's, the bathroom, and a spare room at the end of the house-while Amy cleaned downstairs, though she had to rely heavily on Vanilla when it came to mopping and some for the broom handling.

It was already 2:00 by the time they finished, having taken a lunch break a few hours back. With still another hour before Cream would arrive-not knowing that her mother would be back at their own house if she were to leave Amy's-the two sat in Amy's living room and Vanilla fished through her large light blue purse.

"Amy, have I ever taught you how to knit?" Vanilla asked, glancing up at her.

"A little, but I'd love to learn some more," she said and Vanilla didn't hesitate to hand her a set of knitting needles and hold out a bag of colorful yarn.

Amy picked out a bundle of the thick red string and Vanilla pulled out a light purple project from her purse. After a quick, informational lesson, they both set into their work with the endless roll of yarn. Once they had both gotten into the rhythm of their own clicking needles, they were able to strike up conversation once again without losing focus and dropping a stitch or something.

"Thanks again for helping me today, Vanilla. I definitely wouldn't have gotten nearly as much done if you hadn't helped out."

"No problem, dear; any time you need help you know it's not any trouble at all for me to come over."

"I know, but thanks anyway. Since we got everything done today, I shouldn't have too much to do for the next few weeks, just a touch up or something."

"Well I'll be over in a heartbeat if you decide there's too much for you. I'm sure you've helped out with Cream's room more than once when it was at least twice as messy as this; you've always been good at keeping things clean."

"Thanks, but don't sell yourself short; you probably have the cleanest house on Mobius, and you have a job and Cream to worry about as well."

"Well Cream's a very good girl and I only work a few days a week anyway; they don't always need me on duty at the shop," Vanilla said modestly.

She worked at a craft shop in town, doing all sorts of odd jobs around the shop. Sometimes she taught knitting, pottery, or art class, ran the cash register if no one else was there, kept things straightened up, and even made a few things to be sold there. It was a wonder to Amy she didn't run the store completely sometimes. A little while later, Cream arrived and did her homework there before she and Vanilla headed back to their own house.

"What about your knitting hooks and yarn?" Amy asked as they were headed out the door.

"You can keep them until next week at least; it's a great project for if you're stuck here alone and bored. Besides, I can always just get another one at the shop if you'd like to keep them."

"Okay, well thank you. I'll see you guys next week than. Bye Cream," Amy waved from the doorway.

"Bye Amy! I hope you'll feel better!" the rabbit called.

Amy went back to the knitting, finding it so addicting that time seemed to fly past before her very eyes. Before she even realized, it was 8:30 and her stomach was groaning and begging for dinner. Finally, she set down the project that had come so far in the few hours she spent on it and went to make something to eat. After the late supper, she decided to take a well-needed shower and rinse off the dust and dirt that had collected on her body after the day of cleaning.

It was a slow, precarious process, but she was able to finally finish and get into a fresh, clean T-shirt by about 10:00, much later than she was used to being up. After forcing her eyes to stay open for long enough to finish the knitting development she was determined to conclude, she set it aside on an end table by the couch, satisfied with her work. The moment her head fell on the pillow, she was so sound asleep that she didn't even hear the thunder storm rolling in.

Author's Note (which-just wanna add-I hope you all have been reading!): Hi again everybody! I hope you enjoyed this chapter; it's definitely one of my longer ones and I personally loved the progression I made in it! I was tempted to edit out the Sonic and Tails scene where Tails tricks the answer out of him, just to give the story a little more mystery, but it was just so cute and-as far as I've planned-it won't really fit anywhere else it the story! So there it is and you guys better like it! I know I did; you don't often get to see Tails's devious side and I KNOW it's there!

Anyway, thanks for all my reviews so far and I'm really hoping to see a few more here! Next chapter is all planned out and I'll write it as soon as I get some feedback! :D Thanks guys, and don't forget to occupy your mouse with the special little button right down below this note!


	6. Day in Town

Sonic slid to a halt on the wet ground, leaving two long swears of mud over the new sprouts of grass appearing in the front yard. The patter of rain over the leaves of trees echoed all the way to the ground below, sending little spats of water from the overflowing bowls on the overweighed branches. The storm had mostly passed from the night before, leaving nothing in its wake but a light drizzle, a few slightly blown outdoor items or branches, and the inevitably following mushy ground that seemed more like a sponge than anything else.

The speedster stepped onto the front porch and out of the dripping of the world outside. He shook some of the water off of his arms and feet and didn't hesitate any further the open the always unlocked door and let himself in to Amy's house. Not wanting to create pools on the floor from his still soaked body, he dashed to the bathroom and retrieved a towel, wiping off all the excess water before leaving to find Amy.

All the lights were off and he momentarily wondered if the power had gone out. That would explain the strange silence of her normally busy house as well. He zipped up to her bedroom in search for the girl but found it completely empty. If it weren't for the neatly made bed and all together tidiness of the room, Sonic could have been very quick to suspect the worst. Of course, though, his rational side took over and assured him she must be up already.

Uncomfortable with breaking the silence, he continued down to the kitchen quietly and found it, too, strangely empty. He walked, next, to the living room, scrubbing the beads of water still atop his head vigorously and finally found her. She was sprawled across the couch with her bad leg propped against the top, one arm hanging off the side, and the other fallen aimlessly across her body; she was fast asleep.

He glanced at his watch and received the time of 10:36; much later than Amy ever woke up on her own. He chuckled slightly, causing her to stir, and took a seat on the arm rest near her good foot. Finally content that he was dried off enough, Sonic draped the towel over the arm of a nearby chair and sat back for a moment, willing to relax and wait for long enough to let Amy wake up on her own. Not more than a full minute later, he heard a slow yet sharp intake of breath and looked over to see her rubbing her eyes opened.

"Wha are you…" she began tiredly, giving up soon on the words that wouldn't form, closing her eyes and breathing slowly for a moment to further wake up her mind and mouth.

"Well good morning sleepy head," Sonic began with mock in his voice.

"Mmmm," Amy groaned quietly, situating herself in a sitting position against the back of the couch, "what time is it?"

"8 pm; you missed the day," she glared at his cockiness, though with her not-fully awake form it did little in frightening. "Just kidding; it's about 10:30; pretty late for early Amy, though."

"Well 'early Amy' was up late last night; I couldn't sleep at first. If you'll give me just a minute I can get dressed and…" she trailed off.

"Take your time; there's no rush in this weather," Sonic assured her.

"Okay, now I'm confused; how bad could the weather be if it was sunny yesterday? And…did _you_ just say 'no rush'?" Amy stood on one foot and hopped to the window, pulling back the curtains to find the bright world she expected no where in sight.

Rather was a bleak shield of fog and rain, the only light being little beams of sunlight straining to stream through the dense clouds. Her mouth fell open slightly and Sonic began stifling laughter. She turned back and pulled herself into a chair across from him, a puzzled expression on her face.

"What? I didn't know it rained," she defended, looking irritated.

"No it's not that," Sonic chuckled, "but I still can't believe you slept through that storm completely."

"Then what's so funny?"

"Your hair," Sonic laughed, gesturing to where her pink hair stuck to or out from her head randomly, creating little wisps of half-curls or knots puffing out messily in the back.

Her hands involuntarily moved up to smooth down the disarray as a blush flushed across her cheeks. "Well your one to talk," she pointed out, pointing out how he had scrappily scrubbed the water from his head upon first arriving.

"Touché," he gave in, though didn't bother with obsessively fixing it like she had.

"Well, with that aside," she said as he quieted his laughter, "just let me get dressed and then we should get going."

"Fine by me; mind if I wait right here though?" he asked, settling back against the couch with his arms behind his head.

"Go ahead; I'll just be a minute," she assured him, picking up the crutches from the floor and reluctantly using them to drag herself into the bathroom.

About five minutes later, she emerged in her regular open-backed red dress, though the boots had been replaced by a pair of black converse, as she couldn't fit her regular boots over the bulky cast on her right leg which came down almost to her shin. She grabbed a large but nearly empty looking red backpack from the hall closet and met Sonic back in the living room, where he remained in the same position she had left him in.\

"Okay, I'm ready when you are," she announced and the blue hedgehog sprang lithely to his feet.

"Where to first?" he asked, walking with her to the front of the house and opening the door courteously.

"Well," she thought for a moment, "probably first we should go by the library; I have a few books almost due and I want to get a few more in case I get bored this week," she made a face and Sonic chuckled.

"I won't let you get bored, but that's fine by me as long as it doesn't take too long; Tails spends _hours_ in the library at a time and I can't stand that!"

"Well no problem there; I usually grab the first three or four books with interesting covers and at least one is worth reading."

"Now _that's _a good method!" Sonic laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist and smoothly moving her down the porch steps as he noticed she struggled to get down on her crutches.

After the first few jobs around town, they found themselves leisurely walking-or, well, walking and hobbling-down the sidewalk in town. The next task would be grocery shopping, but between all the stores in the little village, it was much harder than one would think to decide _where_ exactly to start. The sun had come out and dried up last night's rain into just a few dark spots of moisture. The air was now humid but pleasantly temperature, leaving the day all together pleasurable for being outdoors a while.

Amy kept a relatively slow pace having to stumble along on the crutches, but Sonic, deciding to spare time, stayed politely by her side no matter the pace. Gradually, though, she began to slow down even more and then came to a stop. Sonic, noticing she was no longer close by, stopped as well and turned back to see her. She stood with her arms crossed over the crutches and her head slumped against them tiredly.

"You okay?" he asked, stepping over and offering a hand.

"Yeah; sorry I'm so slow but these stupid things are killing my arms!" she groaned.

Sonic helped her to a nearby bench to rest for a moment. He held the crutches and hopped around in a few small circles to get a feel for what they were like.

"Those suck," he deduced, sitting down next to her after a minute or so.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," she remarked.

"So what do you want to do?"

"Get some new arms," she groaned, "or a new leg."

"Well, what store are we going to?"

Amy thought for a moment and then pointed across the street one of the larger super markets. "There I guess, but I'm pretty sure they don't sell limbs."

Sonic laughed and slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her back. He lifted her bridal style and, making sure to check for the cars that never seemed to bother going down the streets of town anyway, sped across the little paved road.

"Wait, what about my crutches?" Amy asked as they reached the other side and he began to set her down with a puzzled look. "They could get stolen or something."

"If we're lucky," Sonic laughed, setting her gently inside the doors.

"Yeah, so now I hop around the store," Amy said with an annoyed expression.

"No," Sonic said rolling his eyes and pointing to a row of wheel chairs by the shopping carts.

Amy hopped back a step in horror and turned to glare at Sonic. "I can't use one of _those_!"

"Why not? It says for anyone with-"

"I know, but…"

"But what?"

"It'll be even slower," Amy tried hopelessly.

"I can make sure it won't."

"But I'll…I…I don't wanna."

"So it's a pride thing," Sonic guessed. Amy groaned and he laughed.

"No but I…ugh, you wouldn't get it!"

A green raccoon with a store employee badge then walked through the sliding doors and overheard their conversation. "Is there something I can do? Would you like one of our motor-chairs, miss?" he offered politely.

"Yes she does," Sonic answered for her.

"No, I don't!" Amy said, slumping against a wall to show she wasn't going anywhere.

"She's just too proud to admit when she needs help," Sonic said quietly to the employee.

"Well if it's a pride thing you're always aloud to take one as well so she wouldn't feel out of place or something."

"Really?" Sonic asked, a little louder.

"Sure! I see people, teens in particular, come in in groups and if one gets a motor chair they all do, provided they're not causing trouble. It always help so that no one feels singled out," the raccoon explained.

"That's cool; she might be okay with that," Sonic said, no longer bothering to keep his voice down.

"Whatever it is, if it involved one of those stupid moving chairs, I'm _not_ okay with it!" Amy said indignantly.

"Yes you are," Sonic said, swiftly moving her to one of the cushioned seats in less time than it took her to process his words. The store employee smiled and decided he'd let them handle it as he made his way back in to run a cash register.

"Sonic! You can't make me use-"

"Hey, listen Ames," Sonic quieted her, "I'll race you if you want."

That made Amy laugh out loud. "Oh, that's a good one! How will you _ever_ beat me on this thing? Why, I bet it gets an entire _five_ miles per _day_!" she said with resonating sarcasm.

Sonic seated himself in a vehicle next to her and fixed his face into a serious look. "Are we on?"

Amy stifled another laugh in seeing that he would be in one of the chairs as well. "Fine, we're on."

After tearing off a few items from her shopping list for Sonic to collect, they set the rules.

"You have to get all the stuff on your part of the list," Sonic began, "and we can meet in the back of the store at a certain place."

"By the bakery," Amy continued, "and whoever finishes their list and gets there first wins… But you can't get off of your scooter for _anything_," she added as an after thought.

"Neither can you," Sonic added obviously.

"Deal."

"On your marks," Sonic began.

"Get set," Amy added and then together they said "GO!"

At the word, they both raced off at lightning speed on Mobius' fastest scooters, blowing by the isles at an incredibly fast pace…if you count one inch per second as fast. Sonic burst into laughter as the scooters crawled lazily into the main isle of the store whereas Amy ended up practically banging her head on the handle in frustration.

"Those crutches are starting to look better and better," she said as they began to slowly turn off into different directions.

"Yeah, you might stand half a chance against this speed machine on those," Sonic teased.

They both laughed all the way through the isles as the scooters gradually began to accelerate to a head-spinning _two_ inches per second—and entire _ten feet per minute_! **(About 0.12 miles per hour in case anyone was wondering—I'm pretty sure none of you were, but I'm such a nerd I still had to say it XP.) **

After an incredibly long hour, they both had checked off their lists and began heading to the back of the store. They rounded corners on separate sides and headed towards the middle, where the bakery and their finish line both lay waiting.

They approached at similar speeds, now able to see one another heading towards it and feeling their competitive tension rising. Amy looked down at the controls on her handle, for the first time taking her eyes off the isles, and looked frantically for something to make it accelerate. The bakery seemed hopelessly far when she finally noticed a little knob labeled "speed lock" and flipped to an on position.

Practically screaming at the fact that she hadn't noticed it before, she stuck her finger under and tried desperately to flip it up. The tricky little switch didn't seem to want to cooperate, but finally she was able to shove it up enough to make the cart jerk forward and accelerate forward. Frazzled by the sudden jolt, she almost immediately after had to release the knob that stimulated movement and set on the brakes.

She laughed out as it pulled to a stop at the bakery, only moments before Sonic's car arrived, still going painfully slow.

"No fair! How'd you get it to go fast?" Sonic asked, hopping off his once it was fully stopped.

Amy groaned and pointed to the hidden switch under the handles. "I literally _just_ saw it; can you believe that?"

They both laughed and went over each other's lists to make sure neither had forgotten or missed anything. Finally, Sonic was met with the shocking conclusion that he had, in fact, _lost_ his first race. He didn't take it personally, of course, since it was the chairs doing it anyway, but it was still a harsh blow in the pride of the cocky hero to know that it was _possible_ for him even to loose.

After a delayed lunch at the bakery and checking out up front, Sonic took Amy back across the street where her crutches still lay waiting against the bench. With her arms still tired and the backpack now weighed down with groceries, she was able to talk Sonic into carrying her home at his quick speed. Though knowing every trip with the blue speedster would be a short one, Amy still always took care to treasure every moment spent in his arms.

The sun was already beginning to set as they reached her house. Sonic set her up on the top step of the porch and she tossed the backpack over to a chair in the kitchen.

"Thank you so much for helping me out today! This whole thing would be getting on my nerves much worse if I was alone," she said kindly.

"No problem, Ames. I'm happy to help out if it keeps you from dying of boredom."

"Well if there's ever anything I can do in return…" she began, gesturing for him to come in for a minute, as the sun was beginning to take the warmth of that day away with it.

"It's really no big deal; I'm happy to be here whenever you need me."

"Well it means a lot to me," Amy said, smiling and hugging him gently, contradictory to her usual death grips, "thanks."

Sonic gave her his signature thumbs up and a genuine smile. "So what kept you up so late anyway last night?" he wondered.

"Oh! I almost forgot; wait here," Amy instructed and the hedgehog stood patiently inside the front hall as she hopped off towards the living room. She came back moments later with a red bundle in her arms, holding it up to show it was a long red sweater. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed, holding it out for him to take.

"It's a sweater," he said, trying not to sound bored.

"Yes; Vanilla was teaching me some more knitting and I made this! It's kinda big and I finished it much faster than I thought, but it's for you!" she said, holding it out a little more until he took it and looked closely, examining the stitching with a smile. "Put it on," she prompted.

Sonic put the sweater on reluctantly but smiled anyway as not to disappoint the excited girl. It was softer than he had expected even though it looked itchy from the outside. The sleeves came down enough to cover his hands all the way o his finger tips and the rest came down to his knees. Amy giggled excitedly and Sonic forced a chuckle.

"Do you like it?" she asked animatedly **(lolz, anime :P)**.

"It's great, Ames," he said smiling.

**Hey! Sorry for delayed update, but I've been busy with my b-day stuff! :) Hope you liked it and please review! :D**


	7. Chapter 7 I'm not naming these anymore:P

Sonic took his time on a lengthy run before he decided to go back to Tails's and his place that evening. The moment he made his way in the door, however, he was greeted by a burst of laughter.

"BAA-HAHAHA!" Knuckles howled eccentrically. "What _is_ that?" the amused echidna said, pointing to the red sweater from Amy Sonic was still wearing.

"Nice to see you too, Knux," the hedgehog said patiently, knowing not to get worked up or else his frienemy would surely claim victory in the current taunting session.

"No but really! What are you wearing?"

"Oh, this? It's called a _sweater_. Have you ever heard of them?"

Knuckles growled and the hedgehog smirked, beginning to gain the upper hand. "Where did you get it though and why?"

"Amy made it for me. If you want one, though, you'll have to do some _major_ schmoozing," Sonic said deviously.

"Erg, NO I don't want one! Why would I?" the now angered echidna spat.

"For comfort, warmth, and being stylish," Sonic shrugged, claiming the victory as his now steaming friend harrumphed and sat furiously down on the sofa. "Don't worry; I'll put in a good word and you might get something for Christmas," Sonic continued teasing as Tails came into the room.

"Hey Sonic! Um…nice sweater," the fox said and Knuckles growled under his breath. "How's Amy?"

"She's fine; I took her shopping and-"

"Wait, why are you spending time with her? I mean, aren't you usually on the run from Amy?" Knuckles inquired.

"She's got a broken leg and can't do anything or go anywhere on her own," Tails explained and then looked puzzled. "When did you get here, Knuckles?"

"A few hours ago; I was watching your TV. But when did Amy break her leg? Why didn't anyone tell me anything?"

"Oh yeah, it's baseball season isn't it?" Sonic thought, seeing as how Knuckles, being isolated to the Master Emerald's shrine up on Angel Island, would hire the Chaotix to watch the emerald and come down each evening for sports seasons.

"Yeah, and we won the first game by three runs! But, wait, that's not important! What about Amy?"

"Oh that; she broke her leg earlier this week while she was chasing me. I was going to hang out with her awhile to help out and make up for it," Sonic explained.

"Hm, well that's awfully nice of you," Knuckles said with traces of tease in his voice.

"Yeah, well I'm just a nice kinda person like that," the hedgehog retaliated.

"Hey, you could go visit her sometime you know," Tails suggested, trying to drag them into a new conversation before they began fighting.

"That's a good idea! She had surround sound on _her_ TV! I mean…yeah, Amy would do the same if one of us was hurt," Knuckles said.

"Oh, you're ever so kind, sir gentleman Knuckles," Sonic said sarcastically.

"Well she actually does at least pretend to watch the games with me," he defended, but the other two rolled their eyes.

Knuckles was often like a big brother to Amy; even though they could both irritate and tease each other to no end, there was also the side of them that got along or at least tried to share interests. Knuckles might be suckered into scrap booking or a cooking lesson while Amy could be dragged to the gym or end up having to watch football with him every now and again. In the end, though, they might end up having more fun than they thought, though neither would ever admit it.

"I think we were hanging out again tomorrow; when does the game start?" Sonic asked.

"5:00 sharp," Knuckles said, "I'd probably be there by 4:45 to make sure she hasn't messed up the speakers yet."

"Then I'll be gone by 4:30," Sonic said and Knuckles and Tails both rolled their eyes.

"Okay, so I guess we just planned Amy's schedule for tomorrow," Knuckles pointed out.

"What if she had made plans with Vanilla or something already?" Tails said and they all laughed.

"Well, I should get back to the island before Rouge figures out the Chaotix are in charge. Thanks for letting me watch your TV Tails," Knuckles said and headed for the door.

"I never really said-"

"Oh, and Sonic, that sweater really does suit you," he chuckled once before rushing out the door.

"So…where did you get-" Tails began.

"Amy," Sonic finished and the fox nodded in comprehension.

"Well, I'm gonna get to bed; I've gotta leave for a meeting with a few scientists near Mazuri, so I'll be leaving pretty early. There's leftovers in the fridge, and I know you can use the microwave without blowing anything up, right?" Tails asked and his friend gave him a signature thumbs-up to prove he'd have it covered.

…

The afternoon rolled in bright and sunny the next day. Sonic and Amy walked/…crutched idly down a path running through the park. Just before lunch time left it more or less deserted, but the two paid no mind to the little or no pedestrians around them. Instead, they found ways to make the walk more interesting by doing a half-spin with every step so that only every other stride left them facing forward.

"Okay, so what does…that cloud look like?" Sonic asked, seemingly in place in their no-subject conversation.

Amy followed his finger with another twist-step, pondering for a moment. "That one is…an upside-down bird bath with spaghetti hanging out," she took another twist-step, "nope, now it's right-side-up."

"You're delusional; it's a doorknob with smoke coming from it!"

"Well why would it be smoking?"

"Because one the other side is a room that's on fire. If you try to touch it and open the door, it'll melt the skin right off your hand," Sonic explained.

"Ouch. Have you ever rescued people from fires?"

"A few times; I think floods are about the only things I don't do…not willingly at least."

"Yeah, it'd probably be safer for everyone if they would just keep lifeguards handy in case of a broken dam."

"Amy! Watch your language!"

"Shut up; you know what I meant," she scorned and Sonic laughed.

"Okay, so would you ever take the job being a life guard for the emergency dam protection?"

"What kind of protection?" She asked teasingly before continuing. "Actually, I don't see a good reason not to. I mean, yeah it might not ever happen, but then how's that any different from all those 'zombie protection squad's that took an uprising a few years ago?"

"Yeah, they were pretty weird. I think it was just that some of the high schoolers got bored over summer break and decided to try it to see peoples' reactions."

"Probably," Amy agreed.

"Anyway, I think that's cool you'd be willing to pull people out of a random flood."

"How is that any different from all the random disasters you save people from on a regular basis?"

"Well, you've gotta be a good swimmer. All I really have to do is run faster than whatever the danger is, but that's just natural for me. Do you think you'd be a strong enough swimmer to drag some half-lifeless body out of some raging current running loose in the streets? You know, just thought I'd ask before I sign you up with the mayor and all."

"Well, sure. I mean, if it came down to it, you could always just go with the 'raging current running loose in the streets' until it came to somewhere you could get out. You could always wait there until someone came and got you, ya know."

"Hmm…" Sonic smirked and then began flailing his arms eccentrically. "Help! I'm drowning!" He whispered off-handedly to Amy, "you have to get to that picnic table without me drowning if you want to prove you're a good enough swimmer."

"Oh please! I'm on crutches and we're not even in water!"

"So you're just gonna let me drown? Ah! You'll never be a life guard if you let me drown in the park!" Sonic said and Amy groaned, grabbing his arm and forcibly pulling him along as she hopped to the nearby table.

He didn't go easy on her, of course, making her quite literally drag him the unbearably long 15 feet to the table. Eventually she ended up keeping a hold on his arms, slung over the top of a crutch, and scooting along an inch at a time.

"You know, I've probably suffocated by now," Sonic pointed out and the girl groaned loudly, letting go of him so they both fell on their backs, only a few more feet from the table.

"Okay, fine, I won't be a life guard. But you know, people actually weigh _less_ in the water," Amy said irritated.

"Well there's that…"

"UGH!"

"Alright, I'm sorry. I won't make you drag heavy people out of the water with a broken leg," Sonic said.

"You know, that may just be the strangest apology I've ever gotten," Amy admitted as her companion began laughing. "Then again, I babysat Charmy a few times and…there's just _nothing_ normal about him."

"True, but he's just too cute to be mad at…stupid bug," Sonic mumbled and now Amy was the one giggling.

She laid back against the grass and sighed, pointing her finger up towards the sky. "What does that one look like?"

"A blob," Sonic said with his eyes closed.

"No! Open your eyes and look!"

He obeyed and followed the implied line sliced through the air by Amy's finger. "Okay…it's either a lizard or a fish with…I guess it must be a rock on his head."

"No way! You must be looking at a different cloud; it's _obviously_ coyote riding on a sea horse, but the sea horse is stuck to a marshmallow so the coyote is howling for someone to come and unstuck them."

"Yeah, I'm sure a therapist would love to hear an answer like that on an 'identify the blob' test."

"It's not a blob! You have no imagination," Amy accused.

"No, look at it like this," he instructed, sliding her around next to him so that they were looking up from the same perspective. "See? That's the tail and the squarish one kind of behind it is the rock thing."

"And I'm sure a therapist would love to walk by and hear that too," Amy said and they both laughed.

Sonic closed his eyes again to soak up a little bit of the sun without the interrupting glare from behind the few clouds. He breathed in a deep sigh through his nose when a deathly alluring aroma met with his senses. His eyes sprang open and he immediately homed in on where the smell had emanated. Immediately a smile grew on his face and he quickly pulled Amy up in his grasp.

"I found another perfect thing!" he explained as he raced away the short distance to the source, putting a hand momentarily over her eyes.

A shriek escaped the girl's mouth before she registered what was going on. "Is it a heart attack? Because that's about the only thing I could think when you do stuff like that!"

"No, heart attacks aren't perfect!" He said, setting her down and uncovering her eyes. "Tada! Chilli dogs; the most perfect creation on Mobius or _anywhere_!"

"What?" Amy asked, puzzled as she registered the sight of the silver cart just a few feet away.

The smell of so many different spices combined with the meat and grease of the dog itself made her wrinkle her nose slightly, having not expected whatever would wait to be so strongly perfumed. After composing her face and taking a second to catch her mind up with the speed Sonic had just demonstrated to move them all the way across the park, she was able to speak again.

"You're kidding, right?"

Sonic's mouth dropped half way to the ground is shock. "No, are _you_?"

"No; chili dogs are pretty far from _perfect_."

"Ah! How can you say that without your head exploding? Chili dogs are the most delectable delicacy in the processed food industry by FAR if not the universe!"

"No, you're just not used to actual cooking, so you don't know what good food _really_ tastes like," Amy teased.

"Okay, I'm going to buy you a chili dog and then tomorrow I'm coming to your house for dinner and if you can cook better than this highly praised merchant of fast food, I'll admit they're not the BEST thing, even though they'd be at _least_ second."

"Fine."

"Wait, that's not all! _When_ I'm right, you have to either make or get me a chili dog every time I'm with you at lunch time."

"Sure, why not? I'll cook tonight if you want," Amy began.

"Naw, Knuckles was coming over to take over your TV tonight…and hang out with you."

"Oh, and did everyone but me know about that?"

"I guess so," Sonic admitted and Amy groaned.

"Whatever; I guess I should've seen this coming when baseball season hit."

"Yeah, you must be pretty naïve," Sonic teased as they finally had shuffled over to the chili dog vendor. "Two chili dogs with the works, my good man," he said smoothly as the man prepared the meal.

By the time they retrieved the food and got back to the picnic table where Amy's crutches still were, Sonic's mouth was practically watering. Deciding to be polite, he handed Amy hers and waited anticipating seeing her face as she tasted the scrumptious treat. His eyes were animated and hers dull as Sonic prodded her to take a bite. Finally, she gave in and took a bite, trying not to crinkle her nose in dislike.

"You're crazy!" Sonic accused as she swallowed.

"Am not! I just don't like them that much; they boil the hot dogs when they taste better roasted and chili…it's just too many different things together on its own; add it to a hot dog and it's just too many flavors," Amy explained, sticking her tongue out.

"Yeah, so that's the long way of saying 'I'm crazy'," Sonic said, gulping down his chili dog all at once.

"Okay, I'm going to make you the best dinner ever tomorrow and then we'll see who's the crazy one! By the way, what do you want me to make?"

"You have to make a guess and surprise me," Sonic said as she handed him her chili dog which he had been eyeing.

"Okay, but since that was so terrible you have to get me a burger or something for now."

"Fine. By the way, Knuckles will be at you house in about four hours," he threw in casually.

"Gee, thanks for the heads up."

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long to update this; things got really hectic this week, but I think it's all over with now. Anyway, I just couldn't keep Knuckles out of this story any longer, so I threw him in for this and the next chapter. I'm not sure yet if and when he'd be making another appearance, but for now he's here for baseball season :P Anyway, I'd love some reviews and thank you all for reading! With any luck, the next chapter will be here soon, since I have it all planned and everything, and let me just add that I totally don't mind constructive criticism, as long as there's something useful I can go by to fix any problems in the future. **

**Also, I'm open to suggestions. I've got a few things in mind for perfection, but I still need more. Plus, tell me how much you guys like Knuckles. I, personally, idolize him and would love to throw him in the chapters every now and then, but I want to know what you guys think. If he's just an annoyance taking time from the Sonamy fluff you came here to see, let me know and I won't give him as many cameos. As far as other suggestions, I'll take anything you've got into consideration if nothing else. If you wanna see more Tails appearances, Cream and/or Vanilla showing up more, or, of course, more of Sonic's advances to the 'more than friends' state, just let me know! **

**Thanks for reading; toodles X3  
>~Laffy Taffy~XD<strong>

**P.s: I'm thinking about changing my pen name to the above "Laffy Taffy", but the idea is still pending with the writer in my head, so you guys cast your votes and I'll take them up with him. Thanks! :P**


	8. Chapter 8

Amy hadn't been inside her house for more than a short moment when there was a knock on the door. Since she was only a few feet from the front, she turned on the crutches and opened the door. She was greeted by an eccentrically friendly red echidna about to crush her in one of his bear hugs when he stepped back to take in the site of her lopsidedly leaning on one of the crutches.

"Amy! You are broken," he began and she gave him a fake glare.

"Nice to see you too, Knux."

"Yeah, sorry I haven't been down in awhile; the Chaotix were gone for quite awhile so I had no one to watch the emerald. I heard you hurt your leg but I didn't figure that even Tails could get you in a cast," he teased.

"Yeah, they had to hold me down; too bad you weren't there, I think I bruised them both up pretty bad," she joked. "But it's better six weeks on these stupid things than screwing up my leg forever," she sighed.

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Well don't just stand there, come in! You're just in time; I had a cooking show coming on at 5!"

Knuckles cringed at her harsh joke even though he knew she was joking. "Well, cooking sounds good, but you know what it goes well with?" he asked, not giving her time to answer. "Baseball!"

"Yeah, I figured you might be here to commandeer my TV soon," she said sarcastically as Knuckles came **(dang) **in.

"So, you want me to fix anything you've broken since football season?"

"Yes please," Amy said shyly since it seemed like her just touching the remote could unplug or mess something up sometimes. "I can make popcorn or something."

"Good deal! Can you actually move on those things though?"

Amy took a few steps forward and backward on the crutches and gave a good fake smile. "Yeah, I'm as mobile as ever, just slower."

"I bet Sonic loves that," he joked as Amy gave him a punch in the arm.

"Oh, just go fix your stupid TV," she said and they both went off to their respective rooms. "Hey, what do you want to drink?" Amy called.

"Whatever's fine; you know I'm easy," Knuckles called back.

Within just five minutes, they were both in Amy's living room on the couch. Knuckles flipped through channels trying to find the sports channel in HD. They had a six pack of sodas, popcorn, and unopened bag of chips waiting on the table and Amy had a book and some headphones ready for just in case the game got boring.

"You know, only a true friend would take over my television to watch one of my least favorite things ever without a guilty conscience," Amy pointed out.

"Aw, you're just saying that!" Knuckles waved with a flattered expression. "And you know how much I love being dragged through the mall by you and Rouge."

"Yeah, we should do that again sometime!"

"Okay, stop talking; the game's almost on!"

Amy rolled her eyes and kept mostly quiet until the first commercial break. Amy did secretly enjoy the game, but she'd never allow Knuckles to know. Besides, she wasn't exactly the same eccentric fan type as Knuckles, who would be out of his seat cheering for every home run of his team and booing at the TV when the other team did.

"You know they can't hear you, right?" Amy pointed out.

"What? No way; of course they can!" Knuckles joked.

It was just past half time and Knuckles reached for the popcorn bowl, only to find they'd already eliminated its contents. His eyes widened and he turned to Amy with a pout.

"Amy, the popcorn's all gone! Oh, if only there was someone kind enough to go and make more before I died of hunger!"

"Yeah, too bad there's no one that nice around," she said, rolling her eyes as he dramatically flopped onto his back on the couch.

"Oh, I'll shrivel into a pile of dust soon of I don't get some popcorn! What should I do?"

Amy sighed. "I'll get it; I don't want to have to clean up Knuckles dust; yuck!"

"Oh thank you Amy! You have to be the kindest person I've ever met!"

"I know," she groaned, pulling herself up on the crutches and going to make another bag. It didn't bug her so much that he was acting that way, that was just Knuckles, but what was really surprising was how cool he was. In all honesty, Amy would've expected to be treated differently by him because of her messed up leg, but Knuckles seemed to be acting the same way as always. It was actually kind of a relief.

Amy returned and tossed him the bag, making sure to call a heads up first. Knuckles grabbed it in the air and spent a few seconds playing hot potato before he finally held it by the clearly marked "pick up here" strip on top and dumped it into the bowl. Amy laughed at his amusing behavior as she sat back down and the perplexed echidna chucked a handful of popcorn at her.

"Yeah, just make a mess why don't you," Amy scolded, throwing some of it back at him.

"Oh quit distracting me!" he groaned, flicking one last piece of popcorn at her, which she caught in her mouth. "Hey, that was cool. How'd you do that?"

"What? Being cool? It comes naturally."

"Never mind; show me later our team's up to bat again."

"Speaking of bat, how's _Rouge_?" Amy asked in a mocking sort of voice.

"She's uh...fine I guess. I wouldn't really know," Knuckles said, trying to conceal his blush.

"Ask her out," Amy said in a commanding tone.

"What? I can't do that!"

"Sure you can! Why not?"

"Well, uh...I don't have time for dates; I have to watch the Master Emerald!"

"Guard it from who? Rouge? Or you could just guard _her_ during your _date_!"

"I don't like her so stop saying that! I'm not asking her out!"

"Why _not_?"

"Well...what if she says no?"

"Hah! If you were _worried_ about her saying no than of course you like her!"

"Amy, you really suck. You know that?"

"Yup. Ask her out."

"No."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Maybe?"

"No."

"Don't!"

"I will!" he said finally, realizing his mistake a second too late. "Bah! You can't do that!"

"I just did and you fell for it! Okay, so listen up, because here's how it's gonna work," Amy began.

Knuckles mumbled grumpily. "How come you get to be in charge all of a sudden?"

"So, you ask her out," Amy continued, ignoring his protests, "and she's gonna say no."

"What? But...I thought you-"

"Let me finish! She'll probably say something like 'pft, with _you_? You _must_ be joking!'," Amy mimicked Rouge's voice, "but you just say 'okay' and walk away."

"What good will that do?"

"Rouge is a tease and she knows it. If she can't be a challenge it'll squish her ego, and she would HATE that! So you ask her out casually and make her think you're interested and then if it turns around and seems like your not, she's gonna have to come after _you_! That's because you'll catch her off guard and then she'll have to change her mind and say yes!"

"How does that make any sense?"

"It doesn't, but _please_ just try it? If it doesn't work I'll let you take over my TV every night until the end of football season!"

"Tempting..."

"I swear it will work!"

"Don't swear...okay, I'll give it a try."

"Yes! You won't regret it," Amy promised and Knuckles groaned, wondering what he'd gotten himself into.

"Aw, you talked for the whole inning almost!" Knuckles whined.

"You can still see the scores; we're up by four."

"Yeah, but I didn't get to see the actual game," he complained.

"Well then shut up and watch the rest."

**Hello everyone! Before I start this note I'd like to introduce you to someone!**

**The name's Block. Writer's Block.**

**Uuuugh! You know that saying keep your friends close but your enemies closer? Well Writer's Block really better back off and give me some room here! NONE of my friends are this close, which explains why it's such a short, lame chapter! Yeah, so sorry about that :(**

**Yay! Knuckles is here! Lolz, do you guys see what I mean about how he acts like an annoying big brother? I love that! I wish I had a brother like Knuckles, but my only brother is younger and...actually about the same level of gullible and annoying, so yeah. And for another yay, guess what the next chapter is...Sonic comes over for dinner! I was gonna do it here, but I haven't updated in too long and I just can't think of anything right now! Grr, stupid cold! My head is so stuffed up that I don't have room for any ideas!**

**Okay, well I'd love to have some reviews and ideas to get the creativity going again, whether it's actual suggestions or just crazy, irrelevant stories from your own life that can inspire my own crazy stories for this one! You know that saying "A picture's worth a thousand words"? Well how many words is a word worth? You won't find any dictionary definition under three words long (which describes just one word) so for every word in your reviews, that'll be _at least_ three more words of inspiration to me! That's good encouragement to leave some feedback, right? *hopeful smile***

**Anyway, what do you think Amy could try to make for dinner? Well...what would Sonic like for dinner besides chilli dogs? Any idea? REVIEW! Tankoo!**


	9. Chapter 9

Tails walked into his workshop, exhausted from his day, and went straight to the sitting room to relax for a bit before lunch. It was just past noon, but the fox had been up the majority of the night for his flight back home after a meeting in Mazuri. Since he had no work needing to be done, he had already decided to spend the day relaxing so he could stay on his regular sleep schedule when night rolled around.

The young fox wasn't on the couch for more than a minute, though, when the telephone rang across the room. He groaned and was about to get up and answer when a blue streak appeared in the room and got to it before he could even stand up.

"Hellooo," the blue hedgehog spoke into the phone, apparently having expected the call to answer so coolly. "No, that's fine," he continued. "I could go back home afterward...okay...alright, I'll see you in a Sonic Second!"

"Who was that?" Tails asked, stretching out and reaching for the TV remote.

"Oh, hiya Tails! That was Amy; I was going over to her house for dinner tonight and she needed me to take her shopping. How was your uh...thing?"

Tails chuckled slightly. "It went well; we discussed some new technology advances and I helped them go over some formulas for the rocket center security and their next big launch."

"You know you're a super genius, right?" Tails laughed and shrugged modestly. "It's almost sad when some of 'the planet's greatest engineers' need clearance from an eight-year-old before they do anything."

"No, it's just that I'm a board member so they're _required_ to get my professional opinion."

"Sure buddy; just don't forget that your the only _kid_ there."

"I won't," the kitsune laughed.

"Well, I've gotta get going, but I'll see ya later,"

"Okay; I'm just gonna chill here for today. Have fun, Sonic!"

Sonic smiled and took off towards Amy's house, arriving only a short moment later. She sat patiently on her front porch with the pair of crutches waiting against one of the front steps. Sonic smirked and stopped on a dime only a centimeter away from her.

"Hello!" he greeted exuberantly, surprising her with his sudden appearance so that she shrieked slightly.

"Eep! Sonic! Why do you always have to scare me like that?" she pushed him away roughly, resisting the urge to punch him.

"What do you mean? I've been standing here for five minutes?"

"I'm sure you have. Can we just get going now? It's already 2:00 and I need to get started in a bit if I want to have everything ready by 6:30-ish."

"How long does it take to cook?" Sonic asked exasperatedly, but quieted as Amy sent him an unamused glare. "Okay, come on!"

With that, he picked up both her and her crutches, causing her to squeak yet again in surprise, and took off in the direction of the town.

"You know I _could_ walk; I just need you to come with me because Tails said so," Amy pointed out.

"Yeah, but this is much faster; what fun would it be if we had to turn a four second trip into 40 minutes?"

Amy rolled her eyes and relaxed until they arrived at the supermarket. Sonic set her down and she refused his offer for another scooter ride, deciding she'd rather use her crutches since she wasn't already worn out. Amy took off one strap of her large red purse and pulled out and maroon strip of material, handing it to Sonic.

"What's this for?" he asked, examining the cloth.

"It's a blindfold; tie it around your head so you can't see anything," she instructed and Sonic eyed her with uncertainty. "I want everything to be a surprise and the only reason I have your here in the first place is because I couldn't go alone."

"Ouch, that hurts. And to think I thought you _liked_ spending time with me," Sonic said dramatically.

"I do! But I didn't want you to find out what I was making," she defended.

"And you couldn't have just gotten someone else to go with you?"

"Like whom, exactly?"

"Well, there's Knuckles," he began but Amy shook her head. "Vanilla's working I guess...what about the Chaotix? They'll do any job, even shopping."

"I tried them; Vector was on a solo thing, Espio didn't exactly say what, and I wouldn't really trust the other two alone to get it done, with or without me there. Charmy's...too immature to handle anything seriously and Espio...he just kind of creeps me sometimes."

"Is that why you always hit him with your hammer?"

"No! That's accidentally because he's always sneaking up all invisible and stuff; I just don't like it. Like he could be anywhere anytime; it kinda scares me," Amy shuddered.

"Like Shadow?" That comment earned him a punch.

"Just put the blindfold on! I won't let you run into anything...as long as you don't run at all."

"Whatevs," Sonic sighed, tying on the makeshift blindfold. Amy sighed and reached up to make sure it was secure and then smiled contentedly. "So now what?"

Rolling her eyes, even though it went unseen by Sonic, Amy hooked her arm around his and directed him into the automatic doors. It took a moment to get into a good rhythm, but eventually she was able to guide him while on her crutches. Then came the next challenge: the shopping cart ***dun dun duuun!* **

Amy couldn't exactly push the cart with her hindered leg, much less keep Sonic in line at the same time! She was beginning to think the blindfold was a bad idea, sighing aloud.

"Is there a problem?" Sonic asked, noticing she had stopped no more than a few feet inside the door.

"No...well..." she thought for a moment. "Okay, I need you to push the shopping cart and I'll just have to direct you by holding onto the front. Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Sonic agreed, allowing her to guide his hand to the handles of the cart.

It was slow going at first, but again, as they got used to the process both were able to navigate the isles efficiently. After trekking through the spices, produce, dry and canned foods, and frozen isles, Amy had finally acquired all the needed tools for the coming evening's meal. At the check out lane, the cashier couldn't quite help but laughing at the site; a girl on crutches pulling along a blindfolded blue super hero did tend to draw such attention.

"So, may I ask what..." the light gray elderly owl asked with a kind laugh.

"She was making dinner," Sonic indicated Amy's general direction with his finger, though his pointing was off by several inches at least, "and insisted on me not knowing what it was."

"Ooooh, I see," the owl cooed. "Will that be all for you both today?"

"Yep," they both said together and the owl smiled as Amy paid for the items.

"Enjoy your evening," the owl called as they left, a wise look across her face.

Amy helped Sonic remove the blindfold after she had made sure all the items were hidden in either her purse or one of the cloth shopping bags she had brought along. He took her home and then headed back to his place with Tails. He would return once dinner was ready, either 6:30 or sooner if Amy happened to call and let him know everything was set.

As soon as she had her hands thoroughly washed and everything set out and ready, Amy set into cooking. She had the main coarse, a steak being marinated in barbeque sauce, thawing in the refrigerator and was going to make some garlic bread from scratch, since it always tasted better that way. With the ingredients all mixed and ready, she put it in the oven to bake for an entire hour.

Next, she mixed up a cake and got that in the oven with the bread. During the lapse in cooking, she decided to go ahead and set the table. Once that was done, she went back to cooking. It was 5:45, so she started the steak on a grilling pan and got out the now risen bread, which she would lather with a special garlic buttery-sauce and toast/cook just before the other things finished.

After that she had to get the cake out, sticking it in the freezer to freeze any unbaked batter in the middle and cool quickly enough to ice by the time Sonic got there, a trick she'd been using with rushed baking for several years now. Everything was cooking and needed no further attendance for the moment, so Amy sat down for a long-anticipated rest. With all stress put on one leg (and her arms) every chance to sit down was greatly appreciated.

At about 6:20, Sonic arrived, early as usual, with Amy putting the finishing touches on the meal and trying to finish the last few things. He knocked twice to give her a heads up and then let himself in.

"No! Don't look at _anything_!" Amy commanded, trying to act as a barricade to the kitchen door, which was sadly just next to the front door.

"Well sheesh, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were being secretive, Ms. Rose," Sonic said, muttering at first but then arbitrarily turning to a "proper" sort of accent.

"I AM! Does the word _surprise_ mean any thing to you, specifically when paired with the word 'dinner'?"

"Nope, not getting anything," Sonic joked.

"Well what it means is you're _not _supposed to be early, you'll have to wait in the living room without even thinking about coming in here until I say so, and you'll go NOW so I can prevent a fire from occurring in about 14 seconds."

"14? Where'd you pull that number out of?"

"GO!"

Sonic, jumping back slightly at her sudden loudness, skidded into the living room and tried to guess (in his head of course) what it could be that smelled so delicious!

_Chilly dogs,_ he kept thinking, _nothing but chilly dogs could smell this good! It's a perfect layer of spices and a basic taste underneath to mask what might otherwise be an overwhelming taste on its own. She's making chilly dogs and she won't tell me because otherwise I'd say that wasn't part of the deal. It's pretty clever, actually, because she knows it'll be too good for me to refuse if she's already made them._

"Okay, what's first?" Sonic asked as he took his designated seat and Amy stood across from him with her knee on her chair.

"Try to guess while I make it," Amy said rather smugly, taking an avocado from a basket of fruit and a few vegetables and carving a line around the oval-shaped surface.

"Avocado!" Sonic shouted bluntly and Amy rolled her eyes, expertly scooping out the inside mush and leaving none on the inside skin.

She repeated it with the other half of the vegetable and mashed them with the spoon. Next, she drizzled on some lemon juice and a mass of salt, pepper, diced tomatoes, a single mint leaf, and several other spices or leaves unrecognized by the cobalt hedgehog, who wore a desperate look of contemplation.

"Um..." he said, starring the bowl down inquisitively. "It's that...you know, avocado stuff! I know it, I just don't remember the name!"

"Guess!" Amy prompted, setting out a plate of tortilla chips next to it and offering Sonic a taste, which he gladly accepted.

"I know it, really! It's like...you'd think it would sound like avocado but it doesn't at all! And...it's like...a funny name and I used to not know it was made out of avocado but then Tails told me and...I forgot. What is it?" Sonic sighed, giving up but brightening as the spicy yet soft taste hit his mouth.

"Guuaacca..." Amy began slowly, giving him the opportunity to finish.

"Guacamole!" Sonic yelled victoriously. "I knew it all along."

"Yeah, I'm sure you did," Amy laughed.

After the appetizer, Amy got back up for the main course and Sonic got excited. _I know it's chilly dogs. I'm not falling for it, though. No matter how good they are, I've got this one DOWN! _He thought, grinning smugly as she brought the pot and pans over to the table. After setting out the garlic bread, Sonic began his confused switch in moods. You didn't it _garlic bread_ with chilly dogs! With a little over-dramatized suspense, she finally pulled off the lid to reveal the delectable creation.

"Ta-da!" Amy exclaimed, allowing Sonic's first glance at what could very likely be the best-looking grilled steak he'd ever seen!

His eyes widened in slight confusion, as he'd been SURE it was chilly dogs by the delicious smell, but immediately became elated with satisfaction. He didn't even notice at first as she unveiled the rest of the meal, too mesmerized by the perfect creation. It was the perfect darkened shade with slightly blackened lines running horizontal to show the medium-well spots in contrast to the rest. A not-too-thick but well-lathered array of spices and marinara was spread evenly across its surface, making the final touch of the amazing smell.

His mouth was practically watering when he finally realized it wasn't a dream. After blinking off the daze, Sonic took in the rest of the table. A pot of steaming brown rice and what appeared to be some luscious-looking pan of...well, some sort of food that Sonic wasn't familiar with.

"So are you going to stare at it or give up the bet?"

"Both," Sonic said, still gaping at the sight and smell of the whole setting.

"Okay, well maybe try _tasting_ it...unless it looks too horrible and you'd just rather have a sandwich or-"

"No!" Sonic stopped her, unable to bear such horrible suggestions of a _replacement_ to the elegant banquette he was beholding.

"Then try it and tell me what you think," Amy prompted, Sonic just nodding.

She sighed and scooted his plate forward, placing a scoop of each item on it and then moving it back towards him. Still just staring, Amy hopped over to him and waved a hand in front of his face, doing no good at all. Now, of course, he was just messing with her and seeing how long he could keep up the gaze before it began to get on her nerves, and then how long after that before she got mad. Maybe not his smartest plan, but then again, what _was_, seeing as how Sonic didn't have too many Einstein moments around Amy.

Finally, Amy tried the relentless plan Z, using the steak knife to cut off a bite of the succulent steak and waved it in front of his face a few times.

"See? And all you have to do is bite it," Amy tried. Sonic's mouth twitched slightly, though it couldn't be decided as either the means of a smile, or him wanting to bite it off the fork.

Amy groaned and stuck the fork just inside his mouth, so that he could no longer resist the urge to clamp his jaw down over it, letting the amazing taste float across his tongue. A long sigh of pleasure seeped through his mouth as he dislodged the fork and set into a slow, chewing motion.

"Amaaazinnng," he finally said in a hushed voice, drawing out the word after he had swallowed.

Amy sighed contentedly and slid back to her seat. "Thanks you," she said proudly, fixing her own plate without taking her eyes off the bemusing Sonic, who was now jumping around with his fork to taste every different creation.

"Mmmm, what is this?" he asked about the formerly unidentifiable...thing.

"Asparagus," Amy announced, causing his mouth to yet again drop open (thankfully after he swallowed) in astonishment.

"But..." he began, looked almost dumbstruck, "I _hate_ asparagus."

"I thought you just 'mmmm'ed about it!"

"I did! This is amazing, but I _usually _HATE asparagus! How did you do this?"

"What? Make it _good_?" Sonic nodded vigorously. "With practice, skill...and a buttery cheese sauce. Oh! And bread crumbs!"

"Well it's perfect! It kinda contradicts with the spicy, Mexican-ish theme, but that makes it even better! Like...peanut butter and cinnamon! You'd think, since they're so unalike, they'd be gross together but..."

"It's more like it just completes the taste you weren't expecting," Amy finished in return to his loss of words.

"Exactly! Oh, and I'll personally hold you down until you do if you don't write out the recipe. I probably won't get it, but Tails is always up for a _good_ healthy thing!"

"Well what if it was a secret recipe?"

"Than how'd _you_ get it?"

Amy hesitated and mumbled out the answer. "On the internet."

Sonic laughed and they continued the meal.

"Okay, you win," Sonic admitted as they were finishing up the last bites of their cake slices.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"You win! There is such thing as something better than chilly dogs!"

"Uh, thank you!" Amy practically yelled.

"But, that means I get a victory out of tonight too," he said cockily.

"What're you talking about?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow at him while she began to clear the dishes.

"Remember our _long-term_ bet? The search for perfection?" Sonic said, swooping the dishes from her grasp and insistently standing at the sink until she sat back down.

"No, no, you can't take something like this and turn it around on me!"

"Sure I can! What, you didn't think it was perfect?"

"No! Well...yes. Maybe!"

"Okay, the dinner was perfect. That's a given and I won't count it since _you_ did all the work for it, but that's not the _whole_ thing."

"Now you're just confusing me," Amy sighed, dropping her head against the table.

"Not just the food, but the whole dinner-scratch that-the whole NIGHT in general. I thought it was pretty _perfect; _how bout you?" Sonic said, trying to prompt the admission out of her as he quickly and carefully placed dishes in the dishwasher, a chore he'd grown accustomed to because of his and Tails's mutual companionship. Tails cooked dinner, Sonic cleaned up; Sonic did shopping, Tails put it away; etc.

"Okay, so it was a nice dinner, in general," Amy admitted.

"But..."

"It was about as close to perfect, aside from the field, as I've ever seen. And probably ever will," she mumbled.

"Geez, Ames, I didn't realize that _you_ could even _be_ a cynic," Sonic joked. "Alright, well it's pretty late and I should get home soon."

"Okay. I win this round," Amy announced, walking him out to the front porch.

"And I win this," Sonic said, abruptly kissing her cheek and then whispering into her ear "I think that's about perfect."

Amy's eyes widened and she blinked them back to normal width, realizing that in that millisecond she had been taken aback by, Sonic had sped away without a trace. Not a trace except the lingering feeling of his lips so swift yet sweet as they glided across her cheek and left.

Her hand instinctively went to her face, as if to feel for the kiss and hold it and make sure it was real. All she felt was the slight warmth from her light blush and a tingling sensation of affection for her hero, now displayed inside her mind and on her cheek.

"Perfect," she whispered dreamily before going inside and melting into sleep.

**OMG I can't believe that took so long to write! Well, it is a pretty long chapter. Yeah, but I started it practically right after the last one! But it was rather uneventful up until the endy bit, so it was harder to write until then. Okay, why the heck am I talking to myself rather than CONTINUING THE STINKIN AUTHOR'S NOTE?**

**Okay, sorry about that mental instability-er, I mean...yeah, that's what I meant. But, hey, crazies have more inspiration! Thanks so much for all your dinner suggestions and I hope I did well incorporating any certain tastes from games, series', and/or comics that I knew nothing about, but I think you guys laid down most of the basis for dinner here ;D I'm sorry for the delay, but, as I argued above, since the beginning was kind of slow it was tricky to write as well without loosing inspiration. **

**Thanks SO much for all my amazing reviews and reviewers; virtual guacamole, steak, rice and asparagus with yummy cheese sauce for ALL OF YOU! (Or tacos if you'd rather :P) Hopefully the next chapter won't take too long; I think I'll be skipping ahead to next week so Sonic can look for another perfect thing without having to cram it into the same week :) Hard to believe this is my 9th chapter and it hasn't even been a week yet, huh? I think today would've been Saturday in the plot, and it began on...a Monday, so yeah. I'd better keep better track of this stuff; it might confuse me later, even if it has no significance whatsoever to you readers :P**

**Reviews are amazing and special random shout out to GoldYoshi for a really nice review that inspired me to actually stop what I was doing at the moment I read it and work on this! Also, I was asked by "Warp and Mach 9 the Cheetahs" to describe my OC, which I've given a lot of thought to...and I've still got nothing. In real life, my hair is in a pixy cut (shorter than my brothers XP) and it's naturally blond, though it hasn't been in about a year. Currently it's a very dark purple (it was almost black a few weeks ago) and will soon fade and probably be dyed pink (again). [Yes, I'm very strange; you can figure that out just by reading my profile!] So, I guess my OC (if I was an animal or something on Mobius) would be (after hours of consideration, about 400 "what animal are you" quizes, and opinions from my whole family) unknown. JK! Just a bunch of parenthesis, so I decided to drag it out. Next paragraph!**

**I still don't know :/ Maybe a squirrel...yeah, a dark purple squirrel with some spots of lavender or something. I'd wear goggles (according to my sister) on top of my head and only put them down when "I mean business". Umm...my normal clothes are probably dress-like shirts (about down to my hips) and (now) shorts, Cream's whole outfit, but with different colors (maybe black and/or red). I'd actually rather wear pumps or heals than flats (Idk why really) so probably just some tall sandals or something.**

**Okay, yeah, that was awkward and time-wasting. I hope I wasn't too painfully detailed; I'm kind of an adjective fanatic and I like stuff in great detail. You can always PM me for more details, but sorry for any uninterested readers who just got caught in the pool of "ugh!" I'll try to make it up with a quicker update, but for now,**

**Goodnight, Sleep Tight, Review to Bad Dreams Out of Sight! :) zzz-.-zzz**

**P.s. OMG THIS IS LIKE TWICE AS LONG AS ALL THE OTHER CHAPTERS YAAAAAY! XDDD**


	10. Chapter 10

Amy was fast asleep on her couch when a piercing ring startled her awake, almost causing her to fall onto the floor. Letting out a scream as she bolted upright, she accidentally smacked her bandaged leg against the living room table, causing her to yell again. She wasn't used to having the phone right beside her head when she slept, so its ringing had scared her half to death when she woke up.

With her teeth gritted together to keep from crying out due to the now throbbing bruise on her leg, she unwillingly picked up the accursed phone. "Hello?" she asked through her teeth, trying not to sound angry.

"AMY! Guess WHAT?" Knuckles's voice practically screamed so that she had to hold the phone an arm's length away from her head.

"Is it worth guessing?" she said, now full-on grouchy from the morning's events so far.

"I HAVE A DATE WITH ROUGE! Can you _believe_ it? Your crazy advice worked!"

Resisting the urge to slam the phone down, she forced herself to smile in an attempt at convincing not only the echidna - who couldn't see her anyway - but herself as well that she was happy for him. She really was, but couldn't he wait until a decent time to call? After all, it was only...9:30! How could it be any later than 8 already?

"That's great, Knuckles! I told you it would work," she cleared her throat and shook off the morning grumpiness, trying not to focus on the throbbing spot on her right leg.

"I know, right? I'm meeting her tomorrow night at that pizza place; pretty cool huh?"

"Yep. Hey, can I call you later, though?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything wrong?"

"No, I just woke up is all. I'll talk to ya soon though," Amy said cheerfully while gritting her teeth.

"Oh, well okay. Talk to you later," the echidna exclaimed, apparently excited, but Amy stopped him just before he hung up.

"Hey wait! When is the next baseball game on?"

"Well, there's one pretty much every day, and the one tonight starts at 6:30," he said, having apparently memorized the schedule.

"Well come over then and we can talk, okay?"

"Alright! See ya then!" the echidna said enthusiastically just before he hung up.

Amy calmly hung up her own phone and slowly let her eyes trail down to the now darkening splotch on her shin, just a few inches below the bottom of her cast.

"Oh maan," she groaned, putting her leg up on the couch to inspect it more closely. "At least it didn't hit my cast," she sighed.

Her knee was fine, just a little jostled, which was the main importance of the situation. If she had hit it, it could easily displace the repairing ligaments and mess up the entire healing process. Plus, it was Monday, which meant that she would be going over to see Tails later for her weekly inspection. It had been exactly a week ago now that she had broken it, so Tails would have to take another x-ray to check the progress and adjust anything later today.

Amy sighed again and dragged her crutches over so that she could stand up. Flinching slightly as she stood, she tried her best to push away the soreness by smiling. It was a twisted fake-looking smile, but it worked well enough for her. The house was chilly, so she pulled on a pair of gray pants that stretched over her cast and a red jacket over her tank top on her way to the kitchen. Just as she reached the table after pouring a cup of coffee, however, Sonic burst through the front doors without warning.

"Man in the house; make yourself decent!" he hollered so loudly in made Amy jump and hit her _other_ knee against the top of the table. Some of the coffee sloshed out of the cup, but thankfully, none landed on her.

"Ouch!" Amy yelled as Sonic appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

"What?" he asked, concern clouding over the enthusiasm in his eyes.

Amy bit her lip in an attempt to keep from yelping again, trying to force herself to keep smiling.

"Aammyyy?" Sonic asked warily, taking a step into the kitchen.

Just as he did, Amy opened her mouth with the original intention of breathing, but ended up nearly yelling out in pain and frustration. However, just as noise escaped her lips, she changed the sound so that it came out as a loud, utterly unconvincing, somewhat psychotic laugh. Sonic took as step back, staring incredulously at her while she got over the momentary insanity.

"Should I be concerned?" he asked as her almost maniacal laugh slowly died and she let her head fall on the table.

"Today's a great day, isn't it?" she said in an absolutely phony-happy soprano squeak.

"Uh, suure. I'm just gonna go call the mental doctors now, okay?" he said slowly, pretending to back away.

"Ugh, sorry; I'm probably freaking you out right now huh?"

"No, no, this is totally normal," Sonic said sarcastically, zipping over to sit beside her and noticing the small puddle of coffee on the table. "Did you spill hot coffee on yourself?" he guessed.

"There's still a whole cup, though, so I'm not gonna say anything yet and jinx it," she sulked.

"Oh, so it's one of _those_ days," Sonic said in an exaggerated way.

"Should I just hit you now, or wait until the next stupid comment and then hit you twice as hard?"

"Now's fine," Sonic said indifferently as Amy swung at his shoulder more playfully than angry. "Seriously? Do I have to say it?"

"Don't say it," Amy pleaded.

"You hit," he began.

"You're only getting yourself in more trouble," Amy warned.

"Like..."

"Really. You can stop there unless you're just that stupid."

"You hit like a girl. Hah!" Sonic laughed and Amy reared back and punched him again, only much harder. "Eheh, see now that's better," Sonic said, grinning while he rubbed his arm.

"You shouldn't tease someone with a hammer bigger than even _your_ mouth," Amy said.

"Yeah, but you can't use it, remember?"

"Says you! I'm gonna ask Tails about that today."

"But you still couldn't; remember the bet?"

"How could I forget? Oh and by the way, don't you at least knock to give me _half_ a warning anymore?"

"Naw, it's not like that would help; you're still a cripple who couldn't answer the door."

"I am not a cripple, and what if...what if I had been getting dressed or something?"

"Amy, please, I know you. You live alone and still go in the bathroom with the door locked when you change clothes."

"There's nothing wrong with that; it's just an old habit. And, you know, old habits die hard, right?"

"No, you're just paranoid."

"Okay, did you just come over here to tease me or was there an actual reason?" Amy asked, sipping the steaming cup of coffee cautiously as to not risk the inevitable spill.

"Oh yeah! Tails has got to leave again later and he wanted me to go ahead and bring you over for your leg checkup thing!" Sonic said, pulling her into his arms the second she set down her cup.

"Sonic! I didn't even get breakfast yet!" she argued as he took off towards his and Tails's place.

"It's okay, I didn't yet either but we have doughnuts over there," Sonic said.

"But...I'm not dressed yet!"

"So? We're just going to see Tails for a quick check up thing and then I can bring you back," Sonic said.

Amy sighed and decided to give up; there was no sense in arguing with the stubborn hedgehog, plus they were practically there anyway due to his incredible speed. Within only a short moment, Sonic was skidding to a stop in the kitchen of the large metal building in which he and his brother-like two tailed fox companion were accommodated.

"TAILS! I BROUGHT AMY!" Sonic yelled as he set her down on one of the chairs.

"Wow, the kitchen is...clean," Amy said, somewhat surprised. Tails was often too busy to keep things tidy and Sonic was...well Sonic. Cleaning wasn't exactly one of his priorities.

"Tails gave me chores," Sonic grumbled and Amy couldn't help but giggling.

"Well good for both of you," Amy laughed. "It does look good in here."

"Thanks! I'm glad you could tell; it took me, like, almost an hour yesterday!"

"Ya know, normal speed people would've probably taken two or three hours," Amy commented.

"Well sucks for them," Sonic said as he pulled a large white box down from the refrigerator and set it on the table, getting two plates for them to get some doughnuts.

"Us, Sonic. I'm normal speed, remember? You and Shadow are the only ones who _wouldn't_! That is, if Shadow ever does clean and stuff..."

"You're weird," Sonic said as if it was as natural as saying 'hey, what's up?' or something. Amy punched him again just as Tails found his way into the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Amy! How are you?"

Amy quickly turned her glare at Sonic into a polite smile directed towards the fox. "I'm fine, thank you. I've heard you've been busy lately."

"Yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on in Mazuri and I keep getting sucked into it all. It's all good though, other than going back and forth every other day."

"Why can't you just stay for a few days at a time, if you've gotta keep going back anyway?" Amy wondered.

"Well, mostly because I'm afraid of what Sonic here would do to the place," Tails admitted.

"Hey, I take offense to that!" Sonic interjected.

"If he tried to fend for himself for a while, chances are that _something_ would explode by dinner time," Tails continued, ignoring Sonic's comment.

"You know I'm right here, right? And can hear everything you're saying?" he added.

"Well maybe you should have a babysitter for him," Amy suggested jokingly, shooting Sonic a quick teasing smirk.

"Yeah, like anyone would be willing to put up with _him_," Tails joked.

"Still in the room, guys. And by the way, Amy's been putting up with me just fine the past few days...or week actually."

"He's not _that_ bad," Amy shrugged with a slight giggle.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Sonic said, and finally the two turned to him. "Tails, you could go out of town for a while and Amy will keep an eye on me while I take care of her! Because _apparently_ neither of us can be left alone, so why not just let us deal with each other!"

"That's...actually not a bad idea. Only if you'd be up to it though, Amy," Tails said, turning to Amy.

"Sure, that sounds fine."

"Really? Are you sure? Because, you don't _have_ to or anything; just if you think..." Tails trailed off as Amy rolled her eyes.

"Tails, I've dealt with hyper five-year-olds at the park with no parents before; I can handle Sonic."

"Hey, I'm not five, and I'm three years older than you Ms. Super-sitter," Sonic said, only pretending to be annoyed really.

"Okay, if you're sure. Really the only thing I'm concerned with is making sure he has something other than chilly dogs every night and not too much sugar or anything."

"You say that while I sit here eating a chocolate glazed doughnut with sprinkles," Sonic said, gesturing to his breakfast.

"I mean don't get into the sugar container and dump it all in your mouth like that one time," Tails said, looking annoyed.

"That was just once, and...I didn't know we still had a sugar container after that," Sonic smirked, causing both of the other two to shudder at the memory. There had been a few tornadoes plaguing the surrounding areas that day, mostly because of Sonic's even more extreme rapid whirlwind of running.

"Anyway, we can talk about it some other time if we have to," Tails said, apparently trying to distract Sonic from the mention of the sugar container. "For now, I have to get you all checked up on, Amy."

Sonic automatically picked the girl up and followed as Tails led them back to the hospital wing of his shop.

"Can you roll you pants leg up; I'm gonna need to take off the cast for a few minutes to do another x-ray," Tails said.

Amy obediently did and Sonic noticed the purplish bruise that had built on her shin.

"What did you do?" Sonic asked, gesturing to the blotch of dark skin.

"I hit it on the table this morning," she admitted, but quickly added onto it. "But my knee was fine!"

"Was that what happened when I got there?" Sonic asked, looking somewhat guilty.

"No, that's from when Knuckles called and woke me up. Don't worry, though, you gave me one on my other knee," Amy said, rolling her eyes.

"Yay, I gave you your own bruise!"

"And you called me weird," Amy muttered and Tails just laughed at the two as he carefully unlatched her cast. "Wow, air!"

"Yes, it's everywhere. Is this new, Amy?" Sonic teased.

"Not like breathing, you dunderhead! I meant my leg," she said.

"Tails, Amy called me a dunderhead!" Sonic yelled in a purposefully immature voice.

"Let's not bicker, shall we?" Tails said, rolling his eyes. "Amy, be absolutely still; I'm gonna do the x-ray and be right back, okay?"

"Sure; I'll be a statue."

"We'll see about that," Sonic smirked taking half a step towards her.

"Sonic, you stay right where you are or farther! If you make me move and screw up my leg even worse I swear I gonna-"

"Freeze!" Tails instructed and they both stopped mid-movement as the x-ray did its scan.

They both sighed in slight relief as it finished and Tails back over a second later, holding out the new x-ray picture and comparing it next to last week's.

"Okay, so a few of the fibers between the bone have started to reconstruct, which is good, and so far its healing at a pretty normal rate. The thing is, though..." the fox began.

"Oh, I hate that phrase," Amy muttered and Sonic just shrugged.

"See, if it heals completely but your knee has been in just that one position the whole time, then it won't be as flexible or controllable anymore. In fact, it may never get back full mobility," Tails explained and Amy gulped, trying to swallow her nervousness.

"It's nothing to worry about, except that I'm going to have to move you cast a little bit every week. The goal is for you to be able to hold it straight by the time this is over so the ligaments can be completely stretched out and you'll still have full control. Since you're knee is at a right angle exactly right now, I say we make it even and unbend your leg about 15 degrees every week so that by the end of the six weeks it's straight again."

"Okay," Amy agreed.

"The thing is, it might hurt when I unbend your leg a little," Tails explained, looking down at the floor a little nervously. Amy knew the fox would do anything to get out of hurting one of his friends, but if it was for their own good, it had to be done. No matter how much the fox despised it.

"Oh..." Amy took a deep breath. "It's okay, Tails. It'll be over in just a second, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Let me get the cast set first," he said, taking the bulky cast and inserting a screw driver that he used to turn the gears to that it was now at a 105 degree angle.

"Anything I should do?" Sonic offered.

"Hold my hand?" Amy asked, her eyes looking nervous as she stole glances at Tails, who was putting the cast on top of her knee so he could just bend it into that.

Sonic gladly took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as Tails looked up at her.

"I'll go on three, okay?" the fox said and Amy nodded. "One...two...three," he said as calmly as he could to not scare her.

Amy bit her lip as her knee shifted. It felt like a spider web, very light and thin, inside her leg way being stretched apart until it fit into place back in the cast. No, it was worse than that. Maybe if a giant spider web was being dragged in two different directions and was _just_ strong enough to not break...either way, stretching, not quite breaking, ouch.

"You okay?" Sonic asked. Amy stopped clenching her jaw shut over her bottom lip and nodded. "Then any chance you could allow blood to circulate through my hand again?"

Amy almost gasped, realizing how tightly she'd been holding his hand. She immediately unclenched her fist as Sonic bent his fingers a few time experimentally. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"That's fine."

"Are you okay now? I can give you a pain pill or something if it still hurts," Tails offered.

"No, that's fine. Thanks though, Tails." Amy smiled, pretending that there wasn't really a throbbing pulse in her leg.

"Alright. Well I've got to get going soon," Tails said, looking quickly at his watch and almost gasping. "_Really_ soon," he corrected.

"So are you gonna stay gone for a few days?" Sonic asked.

"If you guys are up to that," the fox said and both hedgehogs nodded. "Well okay. Make sure to call me if you need _anything, _right?"

"No worries, lil buddy! I'll keep Amy off her feet and she'll keep me under control."

"Okay. I'll probably see you around Thursday if that's not too long," Tails said, beginning to look jumpy and ready to get going.

"Take your time; we'll be fine," Amy said.

"Okay. Bye then," Tails smiled and practically sprinted towards the X-Tornado.

"Well, you up for baseball tonight?" Amy asked with a smile.

**Wow, what a horrible ending to the chapter. I was gonna keep on for a minute to get to a better stopping point, but it's getting _really_ late and I'm MONDO tired! I've been hiking for the past two days and I have school tomorrow again, so I REALLY need sleep! Sorry this took so long and I SWEAR I'm gonna try to update more often! I think I'll try my hardest to get out one every week, so if I haven't updated all week by midnight every Saturday, I not only give you all permission but ENCOURAGE you to PM or flame or SOMETHING to get my attention and go off on me all you want!**

**Thanks for all of my spectacular reviews and here's a few replies (since I'm too lazy to PM you guys :3) to: **

**HBee16- Yes, I do still plan on your idea, and I'm not sure, but I think Apotos is across the planet or something. That doesn't matter all too much with Sonic around though :) I wanted to have done it already, but new plots just keep wriggling into the story and it's like, "oh dang! Now the chapters full!" and that's just in my head! Plus, I don't want to use up all the "perfect" things at once because we're just now starting week two of six :)**

**DanceDream-Thanks so much! Hah, yeah, I forget food names all the time. Once my dad tricked **

**me into eating calamari (squid XP) because I had forgotten the name! He told me it was like fries or something and then he started cracking up when I ate it (never a good sign) and didn't tell me until I swallowed. I don't dare to taste things that aren't fish or fries in a seafood place anymore...and I barely even like fish! Oh, and peanut butter and cinnamon, I personally think, is awesome! I have it on toast and stuff all the time, but I can understand if some people didn't like it. I'll eat half of anything with peanut butter anyway xD**

**Kataanger476- Yeah, sorry about all my stupid steak tempting. It made me hungry when I wrote that chapter and we haven't had steak in AGES! (Okay, not really, but not for a long time!) And just so you know (since I wrote that chapter just before bed) I actually dreamed about steak and then in the dream my brother took and was all like "Hah! None for you!" O.o Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that, just NO ONE REPORT ME TO THE MENTAL WARD! **

**Kaz McDonell Miller- Oh, I'm sorry you were sick :( but thanks so much for your review! We had a bug going around my house a few weeks ago and everyone had caught it so far but me and my brother and just when I thought I was home free and everyone had gotten over it I got all stuffy the day before a sleep over and I had to cancel :( But on the (almost) bright side, I learned what it sounds like if you sneeze while playing trumpet at my orchestra rehearsal. Kinda like a 6th grader just learning the instrument actually. (NO OFFENSE TO ANY SIXTH GRADERS!) But yeah, I'm glad you reviewed :) And they say laughter is the best medicine, so I'm sure your review did turn out fine (really nice too :D)! **

**Okay, that's it for replies. Sorry, I wasn't doing everyone, but tell me if yall like the reply thing and I'll make sure to do it more often, maybe even start doing replies to everyone if you want :) Let me know! Well, I'm zonked out, so no more hiking for awhile :/ I swear I twisted the same ankle five times today and I can't stay on a path to save my life! For real, there's a point in which I find snakes less a threat than throns...because I saw no snakes and I'm still finding thorns in my clothes. So why do I like hiking so much? WHO KNOWS! **

**Anywayzies, please review and tell me about the chapter, plus let me know where yall stand on the review replies matter. I don't mind, but lemme hear what you think first, if it might just be a waste of time. Wow, long A/N, huh? Okay, goodnight people! :D**


	11. Chapter 11

Knuckles didn't bother to knock when he got to Amy's house, knowing she would be incapable of answering the door anyway. He walked in and went straight to the living room, where he heard Amy fussing about something or another. As he entered, however, he couldn't help but smirk and let out a chuckle, as he saw Sonic laying on his stomach on the couch, looking rather bored, as Amy held him down by sitting on his back, arms crossed over her chest in an annoyed demeanor.

"Am I...interrupting anything?" Knuckles asked somewhat cautiously, still stiffing his repressed laughter.

"No," Amy answered grumpily as Sonic rolled his eyes.

Knuckles sighed, not wanting to get involved but knowing it was an inescapable intervention at this point. "Okay, Sonic, what did you do now?"

"I-" Sonic began but was cut off by Amy.

"He's been messing with me ALL DAY LONG! And he keeps making me mad."

"So...you sat on him?"

"_Yees!_" she said as if it were totally obvious. "Besides, Tails said I would be babysitting him for a few days, he was being a baby, and now I'm sitting!"

"Hmmm...makes sense I guess," Knuckles contemplated and Sonic gaped.

"You can't be serious! You're not even going to give me a _chance_ here?" Sonic complained.

"Well let's see, who should I believe? The cocky smart allick who takes any chance he gets to annoy people, or the already ticked-off girl?"

Amy gave a smarmy grin and stuck her tongue out at Sonic, who groaned and rolled his eyes. "So you're not even going to let me explain?" Sonic grumbled.

"Amy, will you explain in detail what all he did?"

"Knuckles, that could take all day. But sure, I'll just start with this afternoon. Cream came over after school, just like every other Monday, and Sonic just started off by being annoying. I was trying to help her with her homework, but he kept giving either stupid irrelevant answers or just straight out telling her, which does NOT help with the actual _learning_ part of homework.

"So after two hours of that, we decided to take a break and mix up some cookies to bake while we work, but as soon as we left the room and came back to her books, Sonic started eating the cookie batter! When we came back to get them out of the oven, it was about a whole pan of cookies worth of batter gone! To top all that off, once Cream left he just kept picking on me! Finally I had enough and put him in timeout on the couch and he kept being annoying even then, so I sat on him." Amy finished, looking annoyed.

"Anything you'd like to add, Sonic?"

"Yes! For one thing, I can't help annoying her! It's just natural, and she makes it too easy some times! I mean seriously, how am I _not_ supposed to comment when she can't even stand up? It's so cute I have to tease! Plus, I just wanted to taste the cookies but it's _her_ fault for being such a good cook I couldn't stop!" Sonic tried, obviously satisfied with his alibi enough to smirk.

"Okay, so we'll compromise by saying Amy gets up if Sonic shuts up," Knuckles said rolling his eyes.

"Naw, I'm good," Sonic said.

"WHAT?" Amy yelled, jumping up onto one foot in shock.

"Freedom!" Sonic yelled, bounding up and zooming away to run around the house a few times.

Amy paused, staring in shock for a moment and Knuckles could no longer refrain from bursting into laughter. He fell forward onto the couch, clutching his sides and gasping between laughs while Amy just blinked a few times, still wondering what all just happened.

"So, baseball?" Sonic asked, having reappeared in the room and stopped on a dime, just out of reach from the gaping pink hedgehog.

"Uh...yeah," Amy said, shaking her head and sending him a glare strong enough to break a glass before grabbing her crutches and hobbling towards the TV.

Knuckles got over his hysteria just in time to take control, seeing as how he wouldn't trust the technologically challenged girl to turn a radio dial without messing something up. "I got it!" he yelled, dragging Amy back more towards the couch and messing with a remote for a moment to set the TV channel and everything.

"I know where the on button is," Amy grumbled, but the echidna ignored her. "I can bring in the rest of the cookies, as long as _Sonic_ hasn't already stolen those too," she sighed.

"I didn't! Come on, I'll help," Sonic offered, leading her to the kitchen.

"Fine but if you so much as touch one chocolate chip before we get to the living room you won't get a single cookie."

"What about a double cookie?"

"Just be quiet and get those sodas,"Amy instructed, gesturing to the refrigerator.

They brought in drinks, chips, and cookies just in time to catch the pre-game show. Amy was happy to have Sonic there, since they were on equal grounds as far as baseball fans. That way they could watch and enjoy the game, though not as much as Knuckles, and talk quietly at the same time, so neither got bored. By half time, their team was behind by two runs. Knuckles was sighing and Sonic went on about how it was they were all "too slow" to play, since they couldn't round the diamond fast enough to beat the other team. Amy laughed whereas Knuckles growled and tried not to bunch the annoying hedgehog.

"So Knuckles," Amy began as the commercials started going by. "Tell me about _Rouge_," she smiled and the echidna blushed as Sonic's ears perked up.

"Uh..." Knuckles stuttered, afraid to say anything that Sonic could and would hold against him.

"Come on, Knux, don't tell me ya still haven't asked her out," Sonic teased.

"He did!" Amy said, stopping the echidna from punching him in the face.

"Whoo! So you're _not_ afraid of her; I'm impressed."

Knuckles relaxed a little bit, smiling smugly. "Yep. And she said yes, too."

"That's cool," Sonic said.

"And I want the details," Amy interjected.

"Well...I did like you said, ya know? I just saw her at the store the other day, said hey and asked if she wanted to go out some time."

"And she said yes?" Sonic asked, apparently surprised.

"Actually she laughed and said 'with _you?_ No way,' and so I shrugged and walked away."

"Wait, so how'd you get a date?" Sonic asked.

"She followed me and asked where I was going and I told her never mind. But then she was kinda surprised so she just said that she kinda would like to. And now we've got a date."

"Wow, I can't believe something like that would work," Sonic mused.

"Of course it worked! _I_ suggested it!" Amy said smugly.

"Right, and your dating tactics are by far superior," Sonic teased.

"Okay, so I know girls better than guys, but it would kinda scare me if I didn't."

"Yeah, point taken," Sonic agreed.

"Okay, shut up now, the game's back on," Knuckled hissed as the screaming crowd and annoying announcer's voice began to fill the speakers again.

Sonic and Amy went back to their quiet background conversations, half ignoring the baseball game, but paying it enough mind to see what was happening and make fun of the teams slip ups. Knuckles growled whenever they missed a perfect ball whereas the other two just laughed. It really was two completely different ways of watching the game.

Finally, after a twenty minute overtime, the game was over. Knuckles was sulking, since their team had lost, but it was their first lose of the season, and it wasn't by much. A little idle conversation soothed the rage out of him soon enough.

"Hey, now its dinner time!" Sonic exclaimed as he glanced at the wall clock.

"Oh you're kidding, right? We've been snacking on chips and cookies this whole time and you're still hungry?" Amy asked.

"Well, it is dinner time," Knuckles agreed, shrugging as he stood up.

"And you know what goes great with baseball? Hot dogs! And chili goes great with them," Sonic said smiling.

"So now I'm expected to make you both chili dogs?" Amy said skeptically.

"Yes!" Both of the other two said together, with Knuckles adding on his own touch. "Because you're just that nice!"

"I could only expect this from Sonic, but _you_ Knuckles? I am horrified!" Amy fake-gasped.

"Pweeeaaase?" Sonic begged, making his best pouty face.

"Ugh, fine. But you can't expect chili dogs every single night, alright Sonic?" Amy agreed reluctantly.

"Yay! You're da bestest babysitter EVER!" Sonic exclaimed, sounding more childish than even Cream.

"Yeah, I know," Amy rolled her eyes, going to the kitchen to heat up some chili. She always made sure to have some made for the not-so-rare occasion Sonic would come up begging for one. While the frozen chili heated in a pot on the stove, Amy boiled some hot dogs and got out some buns, cheese, relish, and chopped onions.

Sonic bounced happily in when she called, followed by a less giddy but still excited Knuckles. Sonic piled two hot dogs high with a mountain of all the ingredients, Knuckles left off the extra cheese, and Amy stayed away from the onions. Within a few minutes, everyone was happily munching and after a good few more, they had finished. Knuckles and Sonic did the dishes, but ended up fighting in the sudsy water so much that it was almost like mopping the floor at the same time.

Finally, everything was done, Knuckles had gone home, and Sonic and Amy were winding down.

"Okay, so I'm on the couch, which means you can have either my room or the guest room; either is fine by me," Amy said, now in her pj's and ready for bed.

"How come you're on the couch?" Sonic wondered.

"Because both bedrooms are upstairs and it takes about half an hour for me to get up there on this lame leg another to get back," she explained, pulling down a pillow from on top of the sofa and situating her position.

"That's dumb. But anyway, I was going to take a run first and, if it's all the same to you, I like sleeping outside on the roof or in a tree or something," Sonic said.

"Sure, just don't wake me up until morning; I'm _so_ tired," Amy yawned.

"Okay. Goodnight Ames," Sonic said, slipping towards the door.

"Goodnight Sonic."

**Tada! Another chapter! … with and incredibly lame endy bit. But at least it's here in time! :D I've been kinda putting this off a few days, because my laptop is getting...iffy again. It keeps telling me to buy Windows but we already did! It just doesn't like it because it's supposed to be for Dell and my laptop is a Toshiba :/ So it disconnected my internet (MEANY) and I didn't want to write if I didn't have internet. So I just finally decided to write it and use a flash drive to take it to a computer with internet, and I just now looked down and saw that my dad got the internet to connect again last night! Yay! Thank you smart Dad who knows a kajillion times more about computers than me! XD And boo that I didn't notice it EARLIER! :[ But anyway, BLAH! (idk)**

**Sorry if the ending was kinda abrupt and lame, but I ran out of ideas :( for this chapter anyway; no worries; I've got plenty in mind for later! As for reviews, it must've been kind of a slow week for fanfiction, but thanks to everyone who did review, and here are your replies!:**

**ANTAURIfan-Thanks! Yeah, sometimes I just think 'I'll do a quick A/N and leave it at that' and then end up uncontrollably rambling for several paragraphs :P Yeah, Sonic with sugar...not a good combo...and I read a fic where he had coffee once...scary 0_0 lol, plus if he ended up liking it...well, I think Mobius would be doomed. And yeah, I think I will try to make replies a regular thing :)**

**Hbee16-Ah! This update was not made of sap! :O lol, jk, I just love messing with that ASAP thing (because I'm A SAP for a good pun :P) XD lol, yeah, I'll have to do my research on Apotos; I think it's supposed to be like Greece on Earth, so I'll look it up. I'm going to shoot at putting that idea in some time this week, though :) **

**jazzy roxx97-Thanks so much! It really means a lot when I hear how much you guys are enjoying this; it puts a :) on my face and the I end up writing :) everywhere if I happen to be writing or something when I see those sweet reviews! Watch! :) :) :) :) :D :D :) :) :) :) I'm going to try to update more often, but that mostly depends on whether my laptop will cooperate :/ It's still fairly new, so I think it's just not used to me and doesn't like me yet. And the only way to fix that is to spend countless hours on it "bonding"! XD**

**Anyway, for any reader who review but doesn't want a reply, you can feel free to mention that and I won't put you on the spot with any replies. Just say "no reply" somewhere in your review or something like that and I'll make sure to leave it off. Plus, any questions or comments you want me to add in or answer, I'll be sure to put those in replies as well :) Oh, and one more thing: I made sure Sonic left just enough cookies for all of you guys, but you can only get them by pressing that special little button down there that says "Review"! So as soon as you press it, virtual cookies will be sent to your message box, which you can exchange for REAL cookies at...uh...I don't know. But I'm sure you can figure it out! It all starts with a review ;D**

**Oh, and Happy Nearly-Easter everyone! "o.o" (-almost a bunny :P)**


	12. Chapter 12

By 9:00 Thursday morning, the sun was fully risen and beating down relentlessly. It was hot! So hot that Sonic had to stick to the shadows created by the forest trees while he ran, and even then ended up cutting his routine morning run much shorter than usual. Back at the house, Amy laid on the floor in front of the couch in shorts and a t-shirt with the sleeves twisted up her shoulders. The AC was blasting at full capacity and she had an oscillating fan perched just a few feet away, but the house seemed to be refusing all attempts to have it cooled down.

"Dang," Sonic said as he came in through the back door and immediately joined Amy on the floor. "It is HOT!"

"Well no duh! The forecast said 80's and maybe even 90's today. And it's only April!"

"How is that fair? What, is it supposed to be snowing by September then?"

"I know, right!"

Sonic sighed. "So what are we supposed to do on a day this hot?"

"Well, _most_ people would go swimming," Amy teased.

"Yeah, but '_most _people' either know how to swim, don't have a broken leg, or both."

"Wow. Lucky mosts."

"So what, other than swimming, does one do on a day like this?"

"Usually stay inside, but I think it might be worse in here than out there!"

"Maybe your air conditioner is broken," Sonic suggested.

"I please don't even _say_ that! Tails might not be back for two more days and if it's gonna be this hot than it won't even be survivable!"

"Well where's the generator?"

Amy merely looked at him puzzled.

"You know, the cylindrical metal thing outside that makes air?"

"Oh that! I can show you, but why?"

"Well, I can take a look and at least tell if something's wrong. I'm not as...mechanicy as Tails, but I know _some_ things!"

"Oh, well that's cool," Amy said genuinely, though feeling rather bad about doubting him.

"First let's turn off the AC so the blades don't knock us out or anything," Sonic said, zipping to and from the thermostat in the time it took Amy to pull herself up onto the crutches.

"Okay, I'll show you where the generator thing is outside," Amy said, leading them out into the sweltering heat and to the side of the house where the AC unit was just whirring to a stop.

Sonic glanced in through the grated top bars and then sped off, only to return a second later with a screw driver. He took off the top and did a quick analysis of the insides. After a moment of contemplation, he stood back up and wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead.

"Okay, well your unit had a liquid nitrogen component in it that helps get the air inside cold, and I think the tube taking that in is what's messed up. It's not necessarily broken, which is why it's still working, but I think it must be clogged or rusted or something. If we get a replacement and change the two, I think it will work much better."

"Okay. But where do you get an AC part?"

"Really it's just a regular steel coil, but we'd have to find the right size is all. Pretty much any parts shop or whatever would have them," Sonic explained.

"That's good," Amy took in a large breath and swiped her hand across her own brow.

"Let's go inside for a minute," Sonic suggested.

"Good idea."

Once inside, Sonic checked from the thermostat the coil size and wrote it down on a note card. As it turned out, the size was one from an older model of AC unit, and there for a little harder to find. Amy seemed disappointed after hearing this.

"I do know one place that is absolutely certain to have it in stock. It's a parts store that specializes in AC products and parts," Sonic added.

"Well that's good. Where is this place?"

"Apotos," Sonic said and a smile formed on his face, so big that Amy got a little scared.

"Isn't that supposed to be, like, pretty far away?"

"For normal speed people, which, in case you forgot, I'm not."

Without one more word on the subject, Amy found herself in Sonic's grasp as they flew away from her house. The wind created from his speed was fairly cool and felt nice, but the sun countered this feeling as it hit them as hard as it could with its ultraviolet rays of doom. It took probably an entire half hour, since the city happened to be several hundred miles away, but they finally arrived to a beautiful baroque style town. The buildings were all big and old looking, made of beautiful stone and granite. The town was quaint, but bustling at the same time.

"Oh my gosh, is this Apotos?" Amy asked, gasping slightly as she stepped down onto her crutches and out of Sonic's arms.

"Yup. Pretty nice, huh?"

"Nice? It's so perfe-" she stopped short and caught Sonic's wide smirk. "Pretty. It's very pretty."

"Don't worry; the day is young and there's plenty of time to prove something else is perfect."

"Sure. We'll see about that," Amy challenged.

"Well come on then!" Sonic took her hand but refused the urge to pull her along, seeing as how that would just cause more of a struggle with her crutches.

After just wandering the cobblestone streets a few moments and taking in all the beauty, Amy was having a hard time keeping a strong front with her "not perfect" act. They had passed several cute little shops and picturesque places so far, but had yet to go in anywhere. Amy figured they were just directionless exploring, but Sonic had a plan. It was nearly noon when he finally stopped her on the sidewalk between several buildings.

"Okay, now it's _your _turn to wear a blindfold," Sonic said.

"What for?"

"No questions!"

"But I don't have one. In case you haven't noticed, I don't usually bring a blindfold with me everywhere I go."

"What about your headband?" Sonic suggested.

Amy's eyes automatically went up as if to see if she was wearing her usual red headband, but they were soon covered as Sonic pulled it down over her eyes. "Hey! Sonic, I can't see anything!"

"That's the plan," Sonic smirked, trying to keep her hands from pulling the band back up from her eyes.

"Sonic, what are you..."

Sonic began gently leading her down the street and around one corner ahead before stopping. "Okay, sit down right behind you and wait here for a second."

"Why?"

"Don't question perfection!"

Amy sighed in mock boredom. "Oh, so _that's_ what this is about?"

Sonic ignored her and went to a vendor next to the bench he had instructed her to sit at. "I'll take two Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme's please," he told the vendor.

"Yes sir Mr. Sonic. Haven't seen you about in a while, huh? You here with someone special?" the man glanced over to Amy.

Sonic blushed slightly. "Yeah, sort of. She's never been here before, so I had to show her the planet's best ice cream, right?"

"Never tasted my ice cream? Why, that's almost a crime! I'll tell you what, these are on the house for you today," he said.

"Really? Thank you, sir," Sonic said politely, taking the ice creams as the vendor finished scooping them.

"No problem. You just make sure you come back and see me again, huh? No ice cream tastier than mine, after all!"

"Of course!"

Sonic smiled and returned to the bench with Amy, taking the makeshift blindfold off of her.

"Okay, now you can look," Sonic said, shoving the huge cone into her hands.

"Oh my gosh...Sonic, what is this?"

"That, Ms. Rose, is called a Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme. It is made up of vanilla ice cream with whipped cream, chocolate chips and sprinkles, wafer cookies, and chocolate dipped strawberries and bananas. It is also known as the world's tastiest ice cream and can be found only here in Apotos."

"And _also_ also known as an overdose of chocolate," Amy said, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of the delectable treat.

"Oh come on! What's wrong with chocolate?"

"Just promise me you won't go hyper?"

"Taste the darn ice cream, Amy!" Sonic demanded.

Amy grabbed a Pocky Stick from the side and pulled it out with a scoop of the creation stuck to the wafer end. She stuck it in her mouth and slid the ice cream off onto her tongue, closing her eyes for a moment to take in the sugary delicacy. She took in a breath through her nose and let it out slowly, admiring the taste. As she hummed a "yum".

"What do ya think? Isn't it _perfect_?" Sonic teased.

"Okay, yes. This is by far the most perfect ice cream on the planet. Yes, Sonic, it is perfect," she admitted.

"Thank you very much. Okay, now the only question is, can you eat the whole thing?"

"Oh you're on!"

"Ready set go!" Sonic announced, both of them tearing into the perfect treat.

**Yay another chapter! Did I get it here on time? It's exactly 11:30 right now, so if I do the AN really fast it might update fast enough for me to stay true to my deadline! Jeez, cutting it close here, aren't I? LOL, sorry if it was kinda abrupt ending, but it's here! Okay, review replies really quick now!**

**ANTUARIfan- Yay! You liked replies! And virtual cookies:) well, now I guess I'll have to give out virtual ice cream so you guys won't sue me for so much temptation within the story. :/ Yeah, Amy Sonic and Knuckles all together...it alone makes itself funny :) Plus I felt like Sonic should be annoying in that chapter, so yeah :) I'm glad you're liking this story! XD**

**MrKG- thanks for reviewing! All of your reviews put a smile on my face too :D**

**HBee16-YAY! I finally send them to Apotos! By the way, credit for this goes to her, everyone! HBee16 is the one who gave me the idea to send them off to Apotos for ice cream, so you can thank her for this chapter! Sorry it took awhile to get around to it, but thanks so much for the idea and being patient with me for using it, lol :) Anyway, thanks for reviewing and yeah, I'm sure Sonic was a whirl wind little brat...but still so cute! Lol :)**

**jazzy roxx97-aw, thanks so much! I know what you mean, I love it when you read a story and realize you got a shout out and it's just so cool! :D That's why I like doing these replies; I've read this one story from one of my friends and she would always do replies and, even though it can be a little more work, it's still such a nice treat to see your name and a message just for you (and everyone else who reads it). XD Sorry my updates haven't been so prompt, but I'm still writing, so yay! XD**

**Kaz McDonell Miller-Lol, I don't mind at all if you review for both chapters at once :) I think I'll have to do more with Knuckles, but I need to remember to stay focused on my major goal (SONAMY!) rather than getting distracted with too much Knouge fluff, lolz XD Yeah, I hate my laptop or it hates me one...I really want to like it, but it's just...meh. But whatever, at least I have internet again :D So yeah, love hate blah blah blah Thanks! XD**

**doylewells- Thanks so much! I really appreciate all my reviews and I'm glad you like this so far! The story (that I read; I'm sure there's more somewhere) that had Sonic and the coffee was called Lost Love? And it's by Willowpelt12. It's really funny, so if you want to check it out, I think it would be worth it:) **

**Aamypink- hah, yeah, Sonic is funny...and immature, but still cute :3 Hm...I guess she could just ask Sonic to take her upstairs, but she'd probably be too independent lol :) I guess I'm just kinda basing a few things off my own life here; I share a room with my older sister (shadow talon girl) and I have the top bunk, but I've been sleeping on the couch more often than not lately, so whatever. **

**Well, thanks for all your awesome feedback and I hope I answered all questions in your replies :) Well, it's officially Sunday, which means I missed my self-appointed deadline :( I hope you guys don't hate me! Okay, so I'm 30 minutes late (ish), but I kinda doubt you guys are all sitting arouund your computers or phones or tablets or whatever clicking the refresh button at midnight to see if you have an excuse to flame me...and if you are (or were), no offense, but I think you need a new...time ocupancy. **

**Anyway, I've missed most of our movie so far (Incredibles; haven't seen it in forever!) and I have to work in the morning (the only day of the week I work, really) so I'll end here. Reviews are appreciated and will give you all an automatic Chocolate Chipped Cream Sundae Supreme! XDDD **


	13. Chapter 13

"Tails says he's gonna be back tomorrow!" Sonic announced loudly as he hung up the phone in Amy's living room.

"You know I'm in the same room as you, right?" Amy rolled her eyes, the hint of a smile behind the annoyance on her face.

"Yes, BUT I LIKE YELLING!"

"And I LIKE HAVING MY EAR DRUMS BROKEN!" Amy backfired and they both laughed.

"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?" Came Knuckles's voice from the front door as he entered and met them in the living room.

They all broke into a short spurt of laughter, but it didn't last too long for Knuckles to forget his request for an explanation. Amy shrugged and answered his questioning expression. "Sonic likes yelling."

"I DO!" Sonic thew in and the echidna rolled his eyes.

"So what are you doing here anyway?" Amy asked.

"Oh...I was bored because Rouge had to go away for a few days-"

"And even one day without Rouge is like a year without rain, huh?" Sonic butted in again and Knuckles growled.

"Don't quote Selena Gomez; she's not even on this planet," Amy scolded, rolling her eyes. **(Sorry...fourth wall and me don't exactly get along ;3)**

"_Anyway,_" the frustrated echidna tried to continue, "I was bored on Angel Island so I decided to see what you guys were doing."

"Oh, because I'm not worth a phone call; I'm just the 'come-here-when-you're-bored' person, right?" Amy teased.

"No! I could've gone to see...uh...I don't know, the Chaotix or something!"

"Oh, I feel so lucky."

"Well, you've got both of us," Sonic smiled widely.

"Yep. Lucky _lucky_ me," Amy laughed.

"So what did you guys have planned today?" Knuckles asked.

"Nothing," Sonic shrugged and Knuckles's mouth dropped half way to the floor.

"Okay, Amy I can understand, but _Sonic_ having a do-nothing day?"

"Hey!" Amy said, though she was ignored by the other two.

"I never said that; I just said we didn't have anything planned yet today."

"Well it's a beautiful Saturday; let's go _find_ something to do!"

"Yes!" Amy practically begged.

"Sure," Sonic agreed as Amy grabbed her crutches.

"Aw, but she's so slow," Knuckles whined as she started hopping behind them to the front door.

"It's not _my_ fault!" Amy defended.

"It is because you don't just take the Sonic Express," Sonic smirked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Knuckles asked.

"I haven't been _resisting_ anything," Amy said rolling her eyes. Sonic's smile only widened.

"Okay, Knux, then it means we'll meet you at the park whenever you get there," Sonic said, grabbing Amy and taking off, leaving the confused echidna with nothing but a quick puff of dust to show what had happened.

Knuckles clenched his teeth and rolled his eyes, taking off at his own top speed to not seem_ too_ slow in comparison to the cobalt speedster. He arrived just a few minutes after the other two and found them already sitting on a park bench. Knuckles came up behind the bench, unseen, and gained a mischievous look on his face as the idea to spy on them came to his mind. He jumped behind a tree just next to the bench and listened to the conversation.

"You're so kidding!" Amy giggled.

"No, it's true! You're more important to Eggman's plans than you think, Ames," Sonic was saying.

"But that's just so weird! I mean, he can build this big new fancy robot to kidnap me and 'destroy' you, but if I'm not there as a distraction..."

"He just gave up!"

They both laughed. "That's crazy. Why would he need me to be there just to catch you?"

"Because he knows me just that well," Sonic said.

"What?"

"Well...he knows that taking you is about as big a threat to me as anything."

"...why?" Amy asked curiously. Knuckles leaned in a little closer as they got quieter and was all but jumping out from behind the tree yelling at this point.

"Because...how protective I feel towards you and-"

"Yaaaah!" Knuckles interrupted, jumping out and scaring them both to the point of screaming, unable to take waiting any longer and risk being seen before he could get in his scare.

"Knuckles!" Amy reprimanded in a scolding tone.

Sonic let out a sigh of relief, though unsure of whether it was the fact that Knuckles had saved him from saying something he'd regret or because he was no threat.

"Sonic and A-my, sittin' in a tree!" Knuckles sang loudly. "K-I-"

Sonic growled and lunged at the echidna playfully, causing him to jump back with a sudden yelp.

"C-K-I-N-G!" Knuckles finished rapidly, trying to correct his error. "See? It spells 'kicking'! Isn't that-gyah!"

Sonic tackled him and they both rolled down a small hill while Amy sat on the bench trying not to be surprised by this more than common behavior of the two. She rolled her eyes and decided it was time to step in when they began getting too rough for a play fight in a public park.

"Alright, children, no need to argue!" she yelled and they both were broken from their argument by the harsh tone in Amy's voice. It didn't take a piko piko to break them apart, that was for sure.

"Well if we're not going to wrestle, what do _you_ think we should do?" Sonic asked.

"Don't ask _me!_ I'm the 'cripple', _remember?_"

"Hmm...so cripples can't make decisions?" Knuckles asked.

Amy groaned. "Okay, how about anything legal and enjoyable for all three of us that doesn't include immense physical activity or pain?"

"Yay!" Sonic said.

"Oh, I know!" Knuckles said excitedly, dropping to the ground so he was laying on his stomach. "We can watch grass grow! Won't that be fun?"

"Um...did fun get a new definition?" Amy asked and Sonic, laughing, dropped down next to him. Amy sighed and joined them, rolling her eyes before focusing on the grassy world beneath their feet.

A few minutes passed, all three trying to see how long it took before someone finally cracked. As competitive as they all were, no one was willing to lose the unspoken challenge to not get bored. They watched as bugs and ants scurried by, pausing for a moment sometimes to observe the trio that watched them so intently. A clap of thunder rumbled in the distance and they all turned their eyes up to see the azure sky now occupied with ominous clouds.

"Rain?" Knuckles asked.

"Looks like either it's been a whole year, or Rouge just got back," Sonic joked.

"Seriously, Sonic. Why do you always reference Selena Gomez?"

"Because I'm just that cool!"

"Sure, just keep telling yourself that," Knuckles muttered, rolling his eyes.

"So...do we just lay here till it starts raining or should we, like, go home?" Amy asked, but no one had time to answer as another clap of thunder boomed, setting the scene for the bottom to drop out from under the clouds.

"Apparently the first one!" Knuckles yelled over the sudden downpour as they all scrambled to their feet.

"Come on! We can go to me and Tails's place; it's a lot closer," Sonic said, grabbing Amy and handing Knuckles her crutches to carry as they ran towards the workshop just a block away from the park.

They arrived and Sonic unlocked the door, setting Amy down on the couch while he rushed to get a few towels. Knuckles caught up and came in, setting the crutches by the door and shaking the stray bead of water from his dread locks.

"That was fun," he said sarcastically as Sonic tossed around the towels.

They all spent a moment drying off, all in their own ways. Knuckles rubbed the water off with his towel and Amy patted it off, whereas Sonic simply scrubbed vigorously with his towel until he was dry, leaving his quills in a bedraggled mess. Amy giggled as he tossed his towel away, revealing his disordered hair.

"You look funny," she laughed.

"What?" he asked and Knuckles chortled as well.

"It's your hair," Amy said, full-on laughing at this point. Knuckles tried his best to stay out of it, but ended up joining in on the laughter.

Sonic sat down on the couch with a fake-pouty face, soon being replaced by a smirk. "You think I look funny? Let's see you pull off this look!"

Sonic set into messing up her quills, ruffling and teasing her hair in any way he could think to. Amy tried to push him away, but he just ignored her until it was just as bad as his. Sonic laughed once and Amy glared at him, Knuckles cracking up the whole time in the background.

"We'd do you next, Knux, but it's hard to mess up dreads," Sonic said, breaking the echidna from his laughter.

"You know it," he backfired.

"Sonic, you'd better have a comb or something I can use!" Amy said, still annoyed.

"Well you started it!" he said and sighed. "I'll get it."

He zipped from the couch and came back a minute later with a hair brush. Amy groaned as she attempted to fix the mess he'd made of her head.

"I'm gonna get going; the rain's died down and I want to get back home before it gets bad again," Knuckles said a few minutes later.

"Okay. Seeya later," Amy waved, trying her best to finish the half-brushed hair.

"You know, that wind-blown style is actually kinda hot," Sonic said unthinkingly once Knuckles had left.

"What?" Amy asked, a glint in her eye.

"Uh..." Sonic scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "You wanna watch a movie? We can just stay here tonight since it's raining so hard."

"Sure," Amy said with a grin.

"Great!"

"Just no horrors!" Amy interrupted as he began to head for the TV and movie shelf.

"Aw, that's no fair!"

"If you consider that unfair, than just think about all the nights this week alone that I _didn't_ make you watch a chick flick with me."

"Point taken. Okay, I'll flip to a random channel and see what looks good," Sonic said. "But if it's a scary movie you've gotta deal with it, just like I would if it happens to be a chick flick."

"Deal," Amy agreed, rolling her eyes. "As long as it's nothing R rated or something."

"Well that's a given!"

"Oh, what do you want for dinner? And if you say chilli dogs I might just punch you," Amy said.

"Uh...what about egg noodles with cheese?"

"Sure. Any specific reason, though?"

"That's like, the best rainy day food in the world. Just like soup is for snowy days," he said.

"Hm...that makes sense. I'm gonna go ahead a boil water, but don't look for a movie yet; I don't want you cheating."

"I wouldn't cheat! But fine."

About twenty minutes later, once the water was boiling with the noodles cooking in it, the pair went back to the living room with the TV remote. Sonic turned on the TV and they sat down on the couch.

"Okay, you press one number, then I'll press one, and whatever channel it lands on we'll watch when the next movie comes on. If there's not a movie coming on there any time soon, then we either add one more digit to the number or pick whatever channel with the next movie is on that's closest to the original channel," Sonic explained.

"That's random enough. Okay, I pick 6 for my number."

"I pick 4," Sonic typed in 64, but they didn't find any nearby movies.

After adding a 2 at the end, making it a 642, they found a movie about to start three channels away. The noodles finished cooking and they both drought their bowls in the living room to eat while they watched. With all the commercial breaks and such, the movie ended up lasting a full two hours until 10:00, by which point Sonic was nodding off and Amy was practically asleep. Sonic yawned and reach for the remote to turn off the TV.

"That was pretty good," he said tiredly.

"Mhmmm," Amy hummed, only half awake now. Her head lolled to the side and finally rested on Sonic's shoulder. Rather than scooting away or getting up altogether, however, he just smiled and decided not to wake her up. Leaning back against the sofa, Sonic too was asleep in minutes.

**OMG another chapter! And the ending is super uber mondo kawii CUUUTE! Sorry if this one was kinda boring, but I'm hoping the fluffy ending makes up for it! :3 And I'm updating before really late; that's a good thing! And isn't it weird when you start writing one thing and then it turns into a completely different idea? That's exactly what happened in this chapter! It was gonna originally have an actiony cliff hanger ending, but then it turned into a calm and fluffy one! But I do still have that actiony idea in mind to save for a rainy day! Or...I guess a sunny one, since...it's rainy both here and on Mobius (apparently).**

**Anyway...**

**A day without you**

**Is like a year without**

**Ra-a-a-a-a-a-ain!**

**Lol; everyone try to guess what I'm listening too!**

**Actually the song changed while I was writing that. But anyway, sorry for quoting Selena so much, but...I guess I just needed some Sonic taunting space-fillers in there and...it worked, right? Lolz :) Time for review replies!**

**Hbee16-Your welcome! Thank you for the idea for me to use! Lol :) I know what you mean, though, when and author of a story you like uses your ideas; it makes you feel all happy and special. This one story I was reading, it was so funny, it was this big dramatic cliffie thing and I reviewed saying what I though might happen and it turns out that's actually what she was planning too! It was so funny! :D Yeah, I didn't know Sonic could fix an air conditioner either until I wrote it, haha! XD I guess I really just needed a liable way to get them out of the house, plus ice cream works best for a hot day like that! But now I want to make one of those things, seriously! **

**DanceDream-Wow, I knew Texas was hot, but sheesh! I'm from Florida but live in Tennessee, so I know what hot is like too; last year was actually the coolest summer I've ever seen; it never got over 100, so I was outside every day! I love 80 and 90s, so I know what you mean :) But today is rainy and almost cold enough to snow-or that's how it feels, ugh! Sorry, I kinda hate snow; I only like water when I'm swimming and showering, and I absolutely despise cold weather! So yeah, snow is kinda a turn off. Anyway, I'm just going to not mention any team names because they're on Mobius, and I don't exactly know of Mobian baseball teams, so whatever. But good luck to the Rangers! I KNOW they're better than Nashville Sounds (Sorry my hometown buddies, but we kinda suck), so yay! Thanks so much and I hope your reply is to satisfaction! ;D**

**Jayjay0219-lol, yeah most people don't peg Sonic as a handy man type, but then again most people don't pin me as a math geek, but I was literally bouncing in my seat when I got to do the Pythagorean Theorem last year. And don't even get me started on Quadratic Functions! Lol, yeah, I'm probably crazy. But I'm really glad you like this story :D **

**jazzy roxx97-Thanks so much! Yeah, it's been getting hotter here today, but today's the exception. I mean, yesterday was 70/80 and now it's below 50 degrees! Why won't summer just get here and quit faking me out? I've already been swimming this year; doesn't that mean it should just be hot now? Anyway, I love the ice cream scene; I was picturing it while I wrote and I just hope I interpreted it well enough that yall got the same picture as me, because I know mine was adorable! I'm glad you like the replies in each chapter and story in general! :D**

**Kaiko Genesis-Thanks for your reviews! Yeah, I know my stuff about the characters! Like how Amy is actually 12 and Sonic is 15, whereas most people figure they're 15 and 16. But yeah, that can be understandable, especially since Tails acts so beyond his years sometimes :) I'm really glad you're liking this story and thanks for reviewing! :D**

**Okay, that's all the replies. Now everyone get in your reviews so I can have more for next chapter! Thanks everyone and see ya next time!**

**Bye-bee!**


	14. Chapter 14

Sonic and Amy both woke with a start as they heard the heavy front door swinging shut loudly. The sound made them both jump, thoughtlessly removing themselves from the close position they had fallen asleep in the night before. Both blinked away the sleep in their eyes and heads as Tails came into the room.

"Oh, hey guys. I figured you'd still be at Amy's house," the fox greeted.

"We fell asleep here last night when it started raining," Sonic explained.

"Oh. I hope I didn't wake you up," Tails apologized, but they waved it off.

"No, that's fine, Tails. It's already past 9:00 anyway, so no big deal," Amy said.

"Okay. Well how about breakfast then? We can make pancakes if you guys want," Tails said.

"Sure!" Sonic exclaimed eagerly. "I'm hungry."

"When aren't you?" Tails joked, rolling his eyes.

"I'll help if you want Tails," Amy offered.

"Sure. If I mix the batter can you cook them?"

"Absolutely!"

Amy and Tails went to the kitchen and started working on the pancakes while Sonic took a quick run to wake himself up all the way. About 45 minutes later, they had completed the full batch of pancakes, cooked in random shapes of dinosaurs, mushrooms, hot air balloons, and several blobs open for suggested shapes. Sonic had arrived back from his run by now and was waiting not so patiently at the table as they finished up the last of the cooking.

"Aaaand...done," Amy announced, flipping the last of the flapjacks onto a tray.

Sonic cheered once and set the tray on the table while Tails finished setting it.

"Ooo this one looks like Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed, holding up a large round one and then dropping it on his plate to be covered in syrup and powdered sugar.

"Sonic, go easy on the sugar, would you?" Tails pleaded as he vigorously poured out a good clump.

"_You're_ the one who suggested pancakes; I have a right to powdered sugar!"

"Most people just use whipped cream or fruit," Amy pointed out.

"Two problems with that theory," Sonic was saying between fork fulls of food. "One is that I'm not most people, and two is that _Tails_ never buys whipped cream unless it's a special occasion or something."

"Because when I do you go overboard and eat it all in less than a day!" Tails defended and Sonic groaned, having no other arguments with the true statement.

They quieted their conversation while eating for a while after that. Once finished with all the dishes washed, the trio went to sit down in the living room to discuss Tails's trip and how Sonic and Amy fared on their own for the majority of a week. Not long into the conversation, however, Tails's phone rang and he jumped to answer it.

"Hello?...Oh hi Cream! No, they're over here...uh-huh...not really...oh cool! How about we meet you there in about half an hour? Great, bye!" Sonic and Amy heard half the conversation.

"What's up?" Sonic asked as the fox rejoined them after hanging up.

"That was Cream. She said there's this carnival in town until Tuesday and she wanted to know if we could meet her and Vanilla there today. Vanilla has to run a booth, so if we went she could still go around to the rides and hang out and stuff. I think it sounds fun, how bout you guys?"

"Awesome!" Sonic said.

"That sounds great," Amy agreed.

"Cool! She said it opens at 11 but we can be there a little early to be first in line for our tickets. I was gonna ride up to Angel Island and see if Knuckles wanted to come too," Tails said and they nodded.

"Sonic, can you take me home first?" Amy asked.

"Sure thing, Ames," Sonic said, trying to ignore the quick smirk that played across Tail's face. "Uh, how about we just meet you guys there, Tails?"

"That's fine. Cream said it was in that big field next to the shopping center in town. We'll meet you there around 10:50, okay?"

"Sure thing. See ya there!" Sonic exclaimed, taking Amy and dashing off towards her house.

Amy changed her clothes quickly back at home and got a little shoulder bag to take with her. By that time, it was about 10:45 and they had to head off towards town. Sonic picked Amy up and took her along with her crutches, taking the five mile run in less than a minute. They found Cream at a booth with Vanilla inside the fenced in carnival area and she waved them over and past a few security guards.

"Hi guys!" Cream chimed as they stepped under the little tent-like booth where Vanilla was giving samples and selling things from her store. "Tails isn't here yet, but he should only be a few minutes. Doesn't this place look fun?"

Sonic set Amy down and they looked around at the wide expanse of games and rides. "It sure does! Thanks for inviting us, Cream," Sonic smiled.

"No problem! I'm glad you could come, because Mommy didn't want me to be wandering around alone and she doesn't get a break until lunch.

"Yes, I hope you don't mind keeping an eye on her while you all go around here," Vanilla said in her natural motherly tone.

"It's no trouble at all! We probably wouldn't have even known about this if she hadn't called," Amy said.

"And you're all welcome to join me if you need a break later on; it'll be nice and shady here all day."

"Thanks Vanilla," Sonic said with a smile.

"Oh look!" Cream pointed. "There's Tails and Knuckles! Hey guys! Over here!" she called, waving the other two over. "Mr. Security guard, they're with us. Will you please let them in?"

"Sure thing little missy," said one of the security guards next to where Tails and Knuckles were headed.

"Great, so we're all here!" Tails said as he walked up, checking his watch. "And it's about three more minutes until they open up."

"Do you guys wanna go ahead and get in line up there? There's not a lot of people here yet, so we should go now and get our wrist bands for the rides," Cream suggested.

"Okay," the others agreed, heading to the closest ticket booth, where a few people were already lining up.

"I'll meet you all for lunch later, alright?" Vanilla called.

"Okay!"

"Be careful and stick together," she instructed.

They stood in line for a moment until 11:00 hit and the rides and booths promptly opened up. At the same time, security guards let all the people lined up and waiting just off the premises into the carnival. Within seconds, hundreds of people began flooding in and the lines got very crowded very quickly. Being the third group in their line, however, the gang didn't have to wait long before stepping up and getting their 'unlimited rides' wrist bands, which were a bright neon orange and wrapped tightly in place around each of their wrists.

"Enjoy the carnival," said a faky-perky chinchilla inside the booth as they left.

"Eeeek I'm so excited! What should we do first?" Cream giggled.

"I say we start with a slow ride or something so we don't overdo it," Tails suggested.

"No, we have to start on something fast and exciting to get us all pumped up!" Knuckles practically shouted enthusiastically.

"I agree with Tails; if we start on something fast and one of us feels sick, even the slower ones after that won't be as fun. We should work our way up to roller coasters and stuff," Cream said.

"No, that's no fun! We have to go on something fast first so no one can chicken out once we've seen other people riding them, which won't take long at this rate," Sonic tried to convince them.

"Looks like it's a tie right now. Amy, what do you think we should do first?" Tails was saying.

"I don't want to be the decider!" The others stared at her so hard she had to give in. "Okay, how about we go on something more in between first?"

"But then what would we do second?" Sonic asked

"I don't know! I just compromised, so you guys can work out the rest. I'm good with anything but those spinney things."

"You mean the one that goes so fast you lift off the ground? I LOVE that!" Knuckles said as they started mindlessly walking towards a little, calmer roller coaster.

"I know! It's so cool how they came up with a way to use centripetal force on such a large scale and safely-" Tails was saying as they got in line, but was cut off by Sonic.

"Tails, no offense buddy, but please don't nerdify it! It's fun, and that's all most of us really care about! Besides, the Sonic Spin is faster than that thing anyway, and goodness knows you've tried to explain _that_ to me a few hundred times."

"Well pardon my logic," Tails laughed.

"Tails, how can you be so good humored about Sonic's rudeness all the time?" Amy wondered.

The fox simply shrugged. "I guess I'm just used to it, so I've learned to ignore most of the comments by now."

By this time, they were next in line to the still starting up ride. The all got into the cars, paired two by two with Tails and Cream up front, Sonic and Amy behind them, and Knuckles alone near the back.

"Uh, sir you're gonna need a passenger in your car with you," said one of the employees to Knuckles.

"Hey, no way!" called a voice from the line. "I'll go with him," said Rouge as she cut through the next few people to sit with Knuckles.

"Rouge? No way! What're you doing here?" the startled echidna asked.

"Don't spill to anyone, but I'm here undercover," she whispered with a smirk while sliding in next to him. "Just kidding! I got back last night and thought I'd hang out here today before finding you, but looks like I get to do both at the same time."

"Huh. Small world, huh?" Sonic laughed from the seat in front of them.

"Only because you've seen the whole thing a few hundred times already," Amy joked.

"Alright passengers, please keep your hands and feet in the vehicle until pulled to a complete stop and hold unto any loose hats or glasses," came a voice over the speaker above them.

"Oh, here it goes!" Cream cried as the coaster pulled up onto the steep incline.

Suspense was building with the hill until it reached its peak, not much more than 15 feet high, and dropped down abruptly. They all screamed with surprise and pleasure as it rode out onto the track for a few jerkingly sharp turns before pulling back into its home.

"That was good," Tails said as they got off.

"Yeah; not to boring but not scary either," Sonic agreed.

"When do we get to go on the big roller coasters?" Knuckles asked impatiently already.

"Aw, come on Knuxy, don't you wanna have a little fun before scaring me away?" Rouge asked flirtatiously.

"Oh, fine. So what's next?"

Tails gasped slightly but then grew a scarily wide grin. "I think I have an idea. But we have to promise that everyone will do it."

A chorus of "Sure", "Fine by me", "I'm game", and "_What?_" filled the group as they tried to trace Tails gaze to the source.

"Oh no," Sonic said as he spotted the object of the fox's interest.

"Oh yes," Tails said evilly. "Giant hamster balls."

**Dun dun duuun! OMG this next chapter is gonna be fuuun! You know, this story keeps changing itself completely as I write every chapter! Like the last one was going to be a fight with Eggman and this one I though would be a rainy day, and it just keeps going for pretty much every chapter I've written so far! How crazy is that? **

**Lemme go ahead and get in your replies now! :)**

**Jayjay0219- lol thanks! Yeah, I think that was one of my fluffier chapters so far...besides Knuckles coming along and screwing it up a little, haha :) Yeah, I think it's really funny and cut when Sonic has those near misses with Amy finding out he likes her back; I think I'm gonna try to work those in a little more often. :D**

**ANTAURIfan- thanks for the review! :) Yeah, I usually review stories on my phone, so I totally get it when you think you sent one and it didn't, or sometimes it'll even send them when I'm like in the middle of writing it! So I understand that :) And yeah, there's always that moment when you start doing something stupid and pointless out of boredom and turn it into a 'who can be the most stupid and pointless' contest or something. :D**

**Kaiko Genesis- Yay! I remind you of an anime! I'll have to check that one out; I really love animes, but so many of them are centered around violence or...well they're just plain out there sometimes! I mean, that's totally fine and all, but I'd prefer more laid back shows like Lucky Star than something actioney with an ever changing and spiking plot line like Inuyasha or something (don't get me wrong, I love that one too, but Lucky Star still tops it XD) Oh, well now I'm off topic. Anyway, thanks for the review and I'm glad you like the story :D**

**HBee16- lolz, thanks for the review! XD Hah, I'll have to take you on at grass-watching sometime; I can be entertained for hours with my slipper boots!...um, don't call the mental warden please. Whatever XD And yeah, Sonic's kinda losing the battle against himself right now; Amy's not as naive as him, after all. Plus with Knuckles around (and Rouge for the next few bits) the immaturity has no boundaries! (Mine and theirs, lolz :D)**

**01SonAmy01- Yay! Thanks for the review, and yeah, I love Sonamy too :D (Well DUH; why else would you be writing this sotyr? Oh shut up other me!) Ahem, anyway...haha, yeah the wind blown style thing was pretty funny, I must admit. But then again, I have really short hair and prefer an open car window over a hair dryer, so my opinion may be a little wacky. But whatever. And the funny thing about the last chapter was that I was listening to music for the whole time I wrote it and then Year Without Rain came on just as I was starting the AN. Scary huh? But thanks for the review and I'm glad you like this! :D**

**jazzy roxx97- Yay! I'm glad you like that chapter so much :3 I think I should do more like that, just casual hang outs and stuff with open opportunities for FLUFF! Hah, spring time weather. You love it, you hate it, what're you gonna do? Cold and rainy one day so you fall asleep in front of a heater and the next you're sticking your head in a bucket of water to stay cool...I did both today. But whatever. Thanks and I'm glad you liked it! :D**

**Chicket- Thanks for the reviews :) First chapters name...Ouch. I thought it was really lame, which why I stopped naming these chapters around...7 I think? Anyway, I'm glad you like this and I hope to add in some fluff as often as possible throughout the story. It is a Sonamy after all! As long as I keep it within the K+ rating; I'd hate to have to change it at this point. But it's all good :) Thanks for the reviews :D**

**Okay, that's all my replies for tonight, so if you'll all excuse me, I'm about to fall asleep on my keyboard if I keep 4rgtfvveebh5t66t6ygbbdshyju...too late. But carnival in the next chapter, so review! :D**


	15. Chapter 15

**Gyyyaaaahhh! Mega ultra delay! How could I be so horrible? I've missed, what, three whole Saturdays since my last update? How can I be so careless without you guys hating me? Or was I just not even worth the flame or hate mail? D: I'm an awful, horrible, lazy, excuse-prone author who's just a jerk. And I'm sorry. Please forgive me? I wrote you guys an extra-long chapter to make up for it. Does that help any? Or am I just beyond forgiveness? I mean seriously, almost a month :( And for those of you who are reading the bloopers, I'm REALLY trying to get sissy to update with me, but there just hasn't been any time lately that neither of us are doing anything. But have no fear! The update shall come (hopefully) soon on that story!**

**Bleh. I told myself to do a short AN here to not distract from the LONG awaited chapter, but here I am blathering on and on and-gak!**

"**GET ON WITH IT!"**

**Alright then random Monty Python audience. Here's the chapter!**

Recap: Tails is about to force everyone to do giant hamster balls, which they all (stupidly) agreed to before even hearing what it was. And I'm doing a recap, which is weird. But whatever.

"Giant hamster balls?" Knuckles reiterated for the smirking fox.

"Yup," Tails said, making the word pop at the end to add to the effect.

Sonic gulped nervously as the group shuffled towards them. "Wait!"

"You already agreed; no backing out now," Tails said.

"Yeah but...uh...what about Amy? She can't do those with her broken leg!"

"I can take pictures!" Amy chimed in, taking a phone from her bag and holding it out with the camera setting on.

"No, but...won't you get lonely all by yourself while we're all having...fun?"

"Naw, it's only a five minute game," Amy smiled, making Sonic irritated.

"And we did all agree head of time," Knuckles pointed out and then mumbled to himself. "Last time I do something like that."

"Hah, yeah right!" Rouge laughed. "He'll do it again by the third to next ride."

"Will not!"

"Probably will!"

"You wanna bet?"

"E-hem," began the badger at the gate of the cue line, "Are yall goin on this here ride?"

"Yes sir!" Cream and Tails said in unison and Tails looked at Sonic as he added, "_all_ of us."

"Except me!" Amy threw in, gesturing with her crutches.

"Alrighty, yall step on in here and let's getcha fixed up. Any items yall don't wanna hang onto or that ain't water proof, please set em over on that there bench." he instructed, leading them into the gate where there was a large pool, only about a foot deep, with six giant inflated balls drifting around a roped in section.

"You know Tails, there is _water_ included in this specific ride," Sonic pointed out.

"Sonic, honestly, you're going to be in the ball, and even if you weren't, not even _you_ could drowned if it was that shallow."

"Ergg...whatever."

"Don't worry, Sonic, I'll make sure not to bump you too hard," Cream promised.

"Yeah, same here," Knuckles said sarcastically.

"If yall folks are ready, step on over and I'll getcha on in and ready to go."

The others complied, choosing which color they wanted as they went. Within a moment, Tails had a green ball and Sonic a blue one; Knuckles and Rouge were in red and pink and Cream had chosen orange, leaving one half-deflated yellow ball in the port.

"Alright, have at it, yall; just try not to splash too much water or each other outta there."

"WHAT?" Knuckles yelled, trying to hear through the rubber barrier.

"He said GO!" Tails yelled, bumping his ball into Knuckles from the side.

"Yah! Hey, what'd you do that for?" Knuckles yelled as Rouge decided to gang up on him to.

The game continued as they all got used to the balls and the way they moved. Cream took awhile before being comfortable with bumping into anyone else, Knuckles ended up falling over a lot as he kept getting overly excited and trying to ram everyone at once, and, as could be expected, Sonic continued trying to run in his hamster ball but ended up staying in the same place with the ball spinning around him and the water sloshing away. Tails and Rouge both did fairly well as far as staying upright, but they all had their fair share of falls. Amy soon gave up on pictures and decided to just record the event. As it turned out, watching was just about as entertaining as being in the game of bumper-balls.

"Okay, folks, time's up! Go on and make your way back on up here now." The badger hollered through a mega-phone so that they would hear him.

The others complied, some taking longer than others to navigate back. Finally, they had all come back into the secluded corner of the pool and hopped back onto the ground. It took a moment for each to get used to the solid, not-moving ground, but they all did in time.

"Okay, that was a good idea, Tails," Amy laughed.

"I know, right? You guys were hilarious!" Rouge laughed.

"Oh, you fell too!" Knuckles growled at her.

"Not as much as you, though," she teased.

Knuckles growled again as they headed out of the exit gate. "So...what are we doing now anyway?"

"Who has an idea?" Tails asked.

"Hm...we could go through the fun house? Those things are fun," Cream said.

"Sure, but let's go on that one after, okay?" Sonic said, pointing to a ride at a corner of the lot called the "Scrambler".

"Hm, that looks cool," Rouge said and they began going towards a fun house.

"Hey, and we should go on the haunted house after that! You know, just because they're always laughably lame; we should see if and who gets scared."

"You're grammar is terrible, Knuckles," Amy said, rolling her eyes. "But I'm up for that."

"Yeah!" Tails and Cream agreed in unison, though a hint of uneasiness fell over Cream's eyes.

They waited in line for a moment at the fun house and, once they were up, the employee eyed Amy's crutches skeptically. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I'm not sure if I can let you go with those," he said.

"Not sure?" Sonic interjected before Amy could speak.

"Well, there's nothing in the rules against it, but I don't want to let her go if she might get stuck or hurt somewhere. If one of you could chaperone and stay with her it would be fine, but otherwise-"

"No worries, she's with me." Sonic said before he could finish, giving the guy his signature thumbs up and smile.

"That's fine than. You all enjoy the ride," he said, nodding towards the entrance.

They all climbed the steps of the entrance, Sonic just lifting and placing Amy at the top. "Thank you Mr. Chaperone," she smiled.

"Anytime Ms. Cripple," Sonic returned with a more smarmy smile and Amy knocked her crutch into his leg gently. The others were already more than half across a rope bridge and ready to head into the different paths of a sponge-foam maze thing.

Sonic and Amy stepped onto the bridge and found it was quite rickety. Sonic smiled and immediately started throwing himself from side to side to rock it as violently as possible back and forth. Amy squealed and used both crutches and hands to grab the rope railings.

"Sonic! Stop it now! You're going to make me fall or something," Amy yelled to him.

He just turned around to face her and grinned widely. Strangely enough though, he just stopped rocking the bridge and let it slowly fall still again. Amy was skeptical from the expression on his face, but cautiously took a step forward. Just as her foot landed back on the bridge again, however, Sonic gave it one more violent shake. Amy let out a yelp and fell forwards against Sonic, his arms automatically wrapping around her for protection. She looked up into his eyes and blinked once before recovering from the momentary confusion, backing up just enough to give him a good punch on the shoulder.

"Sonic! Why would you do that?" she yelled, but he was too busy laughing to answer. She groaned and pushed past him, getting off the bridge as fast as she could before he decided to shake it any more.

Sonic zoomed forward to catch up to her, hopping down a big step into the maze part in front of her. "Hey, I'm sorry Ames. I didn't mean to scare you or anything, I just though it would be funny. And I caught you anyway, right?" he said, trying to force her to look him in the eye and see his innocent puppy dog face.

"Yeah," she mumbled. "But you're still a jerk," she made the mistake of looking down at his face and giving up on being mad at him.

Sonic brightened at her softened expression and took her hand to help her over the big step down and next to him. "Don't these things look like punching bags or something?" he asked about the foam blocking things throughout the next part of the fun house, having wanted to change the subject.

"I guess so. It's a wonder Knuckles didn't leave a whole in all of them or something."

"Let's go; they're probably wondering what's taking us so long now," Sonic said, smiling.

They both plunged into the labyrinth of punching-bag-like obstacles. It took a few minutes of pushing through and weaving around, but finally they had gotten out of that part of the fun house. Next was a room of mirrors, which they found the Rouge and Cream were both still trying to get out of. They started out alright, but as they progressed, the mirrors seemed to get closer and more plentiful, making it hard to tell what was a hallway or a mirror.

"You know, it's amazing these kinds of things aren't covered in blood; it's so hard to tell where you're-oof!" Sonic said, trying to head down a "hall" but instead having his knee collide with a mirror.

"Don't say stuff like that! Little kids come in here you know," Amy scolded, thankful that Cream had made her way out by this point.

"But you know it's true...ouch! Stupid reflection!"

"Yeah, I guess. But I have my crutches to cheat with, so I feel the mirror before I smack into it."

"Lucky! Give me one!" Sonic said, trying to walk over but running into another mirror after two steps. "Ugh! This is KILLING me!"

Amy giggled, finding him and taking his hand. "Just follow me, okay? And don't look away or you might just see my reflection."

"Oh, fine," Sonic said, rubbing a spot on his head that had been rammed multiple times into the mirrors.

It took a few minutes, but they finally made it out without too many more injuries by way of reflection. "Well that was fun. Now what could possibly be next?"

"It looks like monkey bars," Amy said, pointing to the foam mat on a platform about two feet lower than them and then up to a length of triangular hand-holds going higher, lower, and even in loops. The entire thing was probably about ten feet long, even though the next platform was only about seven feet away.

"Fun. Do you wanna do it or just walk to the next part?"

"Really? That's easy; why would I need to walk?"

Sonic shrugged and gestured ahead. "Ladies first. Want me to carry your crutches?"

"I've got them," Amy said, letting the open part fall down around her wrists and to her elbows. She hopped up and grabbed the first, only it twisted and spun around as she did, making her squeal slightly. "What was that?"

Sonic jumped to the one past her and grabbed it to test if it spun as well. It did and he chuckled. "It's another obstacle; they spin. Can you handle that?"

"Duh! I'm not gonna drop just because of a little spinny bar!"

"Okay, but tell me if you lose your grip; I don't want you to fall and hurt your leg, even if it's not a very big drop."

"Okay," Amy said, coughing over her words as she muttered an 'overprotective much?', but Sonic didn't pay any attention to it.

Sonic continued across the bars, trying to make each one do a full 360 degree spin for each one. Amy followed, only trying to avoid too much spinning. When the bars raised a little in one place, Sonic took the opportunity to show off by making the highest bar of the arch it made spin around quickly a few times and then dropping down to the next one while still spinning in the air. Amy, on the other hand, used her crutches as an aide to get up higher on the arch. When they came to one spot where the bars made a sort of loop-d-loop, Sonic spun with each one going from forwards to backwards every time he changed bars whereas Amy skipped the loop all together and reached out to the bar after it, passing Sonic again in the process.

"Hey!" Sonic said as he noticed she had skipped it. "That's cheating!"

"What happened to that whole chivalry thing in the beginning? It lasted, what, all of one grab?"

"You could've passed me again if you asked; you just skipped this part and cheated to do it."

"Hm. I can live with that," Amy said, smiling as she completed the monkey bars and swung carefully onto the platform again. "Come on, the others are waiting there at the bottom for us," Amy said, waving down to the others.

Sonic sped up and landed back next to Amy. The last part was a big inflatable slide that led to the bottom. "You first," Sonic said, holding out a hand to help her down.

Amy slid her crutches down first, which Tails caught and held for her while she slid. At the bottom, Knuckles offered a hand to help her up until she was back on the crutches. Sonic met them at the bottom a second later, laughing.

"Poor Amy is useless on her own," Sonic laughed, poking her in the side.

"I am not!"

"You are too! I just noticed it while I was up there watching; you need help with pretty much everything."

"I do not! You guys are just too nice about everything. I never _asked_ for help with everything," she said.

"It's okay, Amy. You _do_ need help with a lot of things, but there's no shame in it. It's not your fault after all," Tails said, trying to stop the argument before it started.

"Whatever," Amy grumbled, crossing her arms. Sonic just laughed and hugged her involuntarily; she was just too darn cute when she was mad.

"So we're going on the one I chose now, right?" Sonic asked after letting her go.

The others, trying to recover from the slight shock of watching Sonic willingly hug Amy, blinked and nodded. Knuckles smirked very widely, turning away before Sonic could notice. "Okay, let's go get in line; it looks like more people are starting to get here now," Tails finally said and they all started heading towards the ride.

They got in line and watched as two other groups went before them. The ride fit six groups of ten at a time, who all sat two per car on the six outstretched arms of the machine. Once full, the ride would buckle them all in and raise each seat slightly of the ground before spinning them around fast enough that those off the ride could hear the wind as it whooshed by them.

"Wait, I didn't know this thing was so...spinny," Amy said nervously.

"Oh come on! You're not gonna chicken out on me, are you?" Sonic complained.

"No! Well...I already told you guys I don't do well on those fast spinning type things. I get all sick and dizzy," Amy said, trying not to look ashamed.

"Look Amy," Tails pointed at the ride. "See how it works? The ride spins and moves the cars around, but they spin too so that they're always pointing the same way. It's not really spinning; just moving around."

"Yeah, but it is really fast," Cream pointed out.

"Don't worry Cream; you and I can sit together, okay?" Tails offered.

"Okay," Cream agreed, still sounding a little reluctant.

"Yeah, and you can sit with me, Amy," Sonic said, trying to imitate Tails's voice...and failing miserably.

"I'd rather be by Knuckles," Amy said sarcastically, clinging onto the echidna's free arm, as the other was around Rouge, who tried her best not to care.

"Don't worry, Amy," Knuckles said, going into big brother mode, "Sonic won't be an awful riding buddy, right Sonic?" Sonic shrugged and then laughed.

"Just kidding. Of course I'll be good."

"See? Now won't you go on the ride?"

Amy made her best pouty contemplation face. "It still spins, whether I'm with Sonic or you or right here watching."

"Well then if you throw up then you can drag me on any ride you want for the rest of the day," Sonic offered.

"Not worth it."

"Come on Amy! Don't be such a scaredy cat!" Knuckles said, now taking to the teasing method.

"I am NOT scared! I just get nauseous on those kinds of rides; I'll have a headache forever!"

"Not forever, if at all. Come on, Ames, we're up. Please just come on the ride?" Sonic said, wrapping an arm around her wrist and pulling her forward a step as the line began moving again.

"Whatever, but keep in mind that if I puke I'm blaming you."

"And if you puke _on_ me I'll blame you."

"Ew," Amy said, squinting her eyes as they stepped through the gate towards the ride. She set her crutches against the gate and hopped, with Sonic's aide, over to their seat.

Once everyone was seated, Sonic with Amy, Cream and Tails together, and Knuckles and Rouge across from all of them, the bars over the seats automatically lowered over them. The ride began to raise slightly and Cream and Amy, though in different seats, clutched at the bar in front of them almost simultaneously. Sonic placed his hand over Amy's and she relaxed the grip slightly...until it started moving. At a lazy spin to start off with, in which the seats began their own spinning pattern to keep everyone straight. After only a few seconds, though, the ride began picking up speed until the were going so fast that everyone on the ride was yelling in one way or another.

Everyone found themselves pressed against the edge of their seats by the force of the air around them once at full speed. Sonic, Knuckles, and Rouge, all used to the higher extremities of rides, put their hand sin the air every so often, shouting out with "whoo-hoo"s and such, whereas the younger of the group clung to the rails for the most part, afraid to be spun out of the seats, letting out screams of excitement and nervousness mixed. By the end of the ride, though, everyone was smiling widely.

"See? Now was that really so bad?" Sonic asked as the ride slowed to a stop.

Amy unclenched her fists only a little, just blinking for a moment. "I am dizzy," she said and Sonic put his hand over her's, trying to slide it off the rail, where he was sure there would be claw marks by now. She finally complied, letting go just before the rail lifted itself off of them. "But yeah, it was pretty fun."

"Whoo! That was amazing! Can we go again?" Cream asked excitedly from the seat in front of them, jumping out after Tails. Everyone turned to look at her and then couldn't help but laugh.

"So Cream's the 'live on the edge' type, huh? Who would've guessed," Knuckles laughed as the exited the ride. "But we're going to the haunted house now, right?"

"Yes, Knuckles, we're going to the super-lame haunted house. Just _because_ it's lame, for the record," Sonic said, handing Amy her crutches.

"Great! If you sit two by two for this, or any more rides today, let's just try to stick with the pattern we had just now," Tails suggested.

"That's cool," Rouge said as they got into the surprisingly short line. Then again, most people going to the haunted houses would prefer waiting until it got dark out.

They were in the car within just a short moment, paired up the same way they had been on the previous ride as they did need two per seat. Knuckles prediction was fairly accurate; the "scary" parts were predictable and most of the mechanics were juvenile. All in all, they ended up laughing more than screaming throughout the ride. They got off rolling there eyes inwardly at the electronic ghosts swooping over the exit.

"Okay, so no one got scared," Tails laughed as they stepped out.

"Thank goodness; that was kinda pathetic," Rouge rolled her eyes.

"What next then?" Sonic wondered aloud.

"Oh! How about the swinging ship? I love those!" Cream said.

"Oh cool!" Amy agreed as they scanned the area until spotting one.

Rouge looked down at her watch and yawned. "You know, guys, I should go home and get some sleep. Any idea how long you guys are staying here?"

"My mom's working until closing, so I'm staying pretty much until 10:00," Cream answered.

"I think the rest of us are staying that long, unless someone gets tired," Tails said.

"Well how about I just call you later and see if you're still here and meet you later tonight if you are?" Rouge suggested.

"That's cool. I'll see you later either way," Knuckles said.

"Kay. Seeya lates kids!" Rouge called, strolling away from the group before flying off.

"Aren't you afraid she might go after the Master Emerald if you're here?" Sonic asked Knuckles as they got to the cue line for an enormous swinging ship ride.

"Nah. We've been hanging together lately so I'd notice if she got anywhere near it. Besides, I have the Chaotix up watching it anyway."

"Yeah, that's gotta be reassuring," Tails said sarcastically as they got onto the ride.

They ended up all fitting on one row of the ship ride, closer to the back but still near the middle. Cream sat on one edge, then was Tails, Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles on the other edge of the wide bench. There were no seat belts or rails, though it did have a handle on the row of seats in front of them. The ride went on and they all had to grab onto the rail as it got going, but enjoyed it without getting too scared. Cream spotted her mom as they got off the ride and rushed over to meet her once they were out. The others met them about half way.

"Did you know it was already 2:30?" Cream asked them.

"Really? Wow, time really flies," Sonic said, glancing at his watch.

"I'm on my lunch break for about an hour; would you all like to join me?" Vanilla asked.

"Sure, Vanilla," Tails said with a smile.

"Excellant. The food lines are pretty long right now, but if you'd like you all have enough time to go on one more ride while I get lunch," Vanilla offered.

"That sounds good," Knuckles smiled and they all scanned the park for what would probably be something that they wouldn't be able to do after eating.

"Alright. Then I'll meet you all in a few minutes," Vanilla said, walking off towards one of the shortest lines to concessions, which was still pretty long.

"Oh! Can we go on the Gravitron?" Knuckles pleaded, the others agreeing enthusiastically.

"Uh, guys," Amy interjected as they all launched into a 'discussion of awesome' about the ride. "Do you people have short term memory loss or something? That was like my only condition; I can't do that ride."

"Aw, come ooon Amy!" Tails begged, putting on his best puppy-dog face.

"Yeah, don't ruin the fun! You've _gotta_ go on the Gravitron! And it's not the kind of thing we can do _after_ eating, even if we waited _two_ hours or something," Sonic said.

"Okay now you're just exaggerating to make me look like the bad guy. You guys go on it; I don't care."

"But it won't be any fun without you, Amy," Cream said, having been taken to the dark side in guilt trips.

"I'll get sick! I can't take spinning things well," she tried, but was outnumbered with her excuses against their guilting stares. "I'm sorry guys, but I will never willingly step foot on that ride."

Knuckles shrugged. "Works for me," and with that, she was slung indignantly over his shoulder and they all started walking towards the ride.

"Hey! This is way not fair! You can't force me onto the ride!" she complained.

"You said you wouldn't 'willingly step foot on' it, so technically this is neither willing or stepping," Sonic said.

"You're logic sucks! Now put me down, Knuckles!"

"Sorry, Amy, but I'm not physically capable of doing that unless we're on the ride. You see, my shoulder is made with this weird kind of glue that can only be eliminated by places where gravity isn't totally present."

"You freak! Quit lying and PUT. ME. DOWN. NOOW!" she said, frustratedly squirming and trying to get away.

"I'm not lying, right Tails?"

"Oh yeah, totally. It happened to me once and it took like an hour to even figure out how to get me unstuck. But this only happens sometimes, so don't worry too much."

"See Amy? We're already in line now and there's really no use in arguing at this point," Sonic said, standing behind Knuckles to look her in the eye.

"Ugh! You're all jerks! And Sonic, you're gonna have to carry me off the ride when this is over with so I don't get 'stuck to' Knuckles' shoulder again," she said, crossing her arms in a front of defeat.

"Who says you'll even need to be carried off?" Knuckles wondered.

"Let's see, my leg, my head, and my weak stomach all agree; I won't move for at least five minutes after this little love fest is over."

"Oh, well at least the vote is unanimous," Tails said.

"You're all crazy!" Amy accused and even Cream laughed.

After waiting in line a few minutes, they were finally getting on. The employee seemed skeptical at first, seeing Amy slung over Knuckles' shoulder, but they convinced him, somehow without Amy interjecting, that it was just because of her broken leg. Sonic had left her crutches against the fence outside the ride, so they wouldn't pose any space issues, and they all filed in, finding a row of empty spaces off to the left of the door.

"Just for the record, this can officially be charged against you guys as a legal violation," Amy said.

"Oh hush; it's going to start in a second," Tails was saying, already excited about the ride even before the door had closed behind them.

"Knuckles, please put me down before the manager sees you or something," Amy groaned as the others claimed their spots against the wall.

"Oh right," Knuckles said, setting her gently between himself and Sonic in an empty space.

"You're gonna have fun, Amy," Sonic tried convincing her.

"Shut up, she said, obviously perturbed as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Alright, people, are you ready for the Gravitron?" an employee asked, stepping into the middle control room and up to a microphone. The crowd erupted with whoops of excitement and Amy muttered a no, but was left unheard under everyone else. "Okay, please remain against your seats for the whole ride. Don't try to sit up or move around, and have fun!"

He turned off his microphone and pressed a few buttons, making the ride begin to turn. It got faster and faster, picking up speed as it did, until they were all pressed up against the wall with their feet off the floor. A few people, including Amy, Cream and Tails, screamed as the man pressed a button that made the floor underneath them retract into the sides so that the only thing below them was the ground spinning insanely fast. Amy closed her eyes and put her hands on the sides of her head, trying to stick it out for the rest of the ride without looking. Already an enormous headache was hammering into her and she felt like her stomach had been left behind in the crazy speed.

Finally, the floor came back out and the ride slowed to a stop. Everyone in the group yelled with excitement as it did, except, of course, Amy, who remained in the same position trying not to think about anything that might spike the unwanted nausea that seemed to inevitably follow the ride.

"Was that really horrible?" Sonic asked as the doors opened and people began filing out. Amy, of course, didn't respond. "Amy? You okay?"

"No. Please let's just get off this ride?" she said, keeping her eyes shut tight.

Sonic sighed sadly and complied, wrapping an arm around her waste and picking her up. "Sorry," he said genuinely. "Are you alright."

"Headache. Don't talk to me," she muttered, trying to relax once they had hit solid ground.

Outside of the fence for the line was a little grassy area where they headed, seeing as how Vanilla was still in line and they had a few more minutes. Cream and Knuckles, having already recovered from dizziness, headed over to stand with her and help get the food in a moment. Tails fell on his back in the grass, wanting to do nothing but lay still until his own head was back in place. Sonic set Amy down near him and zipped back to the fence for a moment, trying to reach her crutches on the other side.

"Are these yours?" one of the employees asked, holding out the crutches slightly towards Sonic.

"Uh, not mine, hers," he said gesturing over to Amy. "Thanks."

"Ice might help. Or something cold on her forehead. Just don't make her open her eyes until she says she can," the guy offered and Sonic nodded, giving him a quick smile before returning to the other two.

**Ba-bada-BAAAH! My longest chapter EVER! Yay! Aren't you guys happy? Even if I'm a jerk who doesn't update in forever? But I'm officially on summer break, which means that all through the day, while my siblings are still working, I have some free time to write! How great is _that_? **

**I have two options for you guys here: I can do long chapters like this from now on (of course, not this long for sure) which might take awhile for me to be able to write, or I can do quick, maybe even every day updates that might be shorter, but still have the full plot and everything. Personally I'd rather the second, just because I'd prefer to write a little every day rather than a lot every so often, and I completely lose the intended plot if I try to do a chapter over the course of a few days or something. But anyway, your call and I'll try to stick with it...even though I might end up doing it my own way every now and then. Now, for my long delayed fan-girliness:**

**Omg OMG OH EM GEE! SOOO cute! Sonamy fluffy fluffy FLUFF! YayayayayayayYAAAY! Hahaha! Ohhh, Amy's mad now. What's Sonic gonna do bout it? Can't wait to write and find out! I loved this chapter! But that doesn't matter; I wrote it for corn's sake! I want to know what all of you think, so tell meee! **

**You all have full rights to flame me for taking so long, but, like I said (or didn't, can't really remember) I've been mondo busy lately! Saturdays are the most busy; I don't know why I ever would've said those would be my usual updating days! My first missed week of updating was because I spent the whole day working a booth for my orchestra group at a jazz festival, the one after that was the day before Mother's day so we spent the whole day cleaning and/or shopping for presents, and then yesterday I spent about four hours in the car to go to one of our state's national parks (Fall Creek Falls), which is way beautiful, has really fun paddle boat rides (but I wasn't allowed to swim in that part D:), and is always a lot colder once we get there, meaning that shorts and a swim top were NOT comfortable for the first half hour until I got used to 90 degrees turning suddenly into 60 (it's in a plateau, so it's a lot colder when you're there). *Takes in loong breath from saying that mega-long and yet not a run-on sentence all at once.***

**Soooo, review replies now!**

**Mermain123- Hi! Thanks for the review, and I TOTALLY know what you mean when your reviewing you just are sometimes like 'okay, why do I even need to log in? The writer knows me anyway! So, haha, POINTLESS!'...okay, maybe I'm not that eccentric when talking to myself...all the time. I don't have a problem! 0_0 ...aaaanyway...no, all the perfect things have not been filled up and I LOVE your suggestion! That's so true; I think Amy would explode from happiness, lol! **

**Jazzy roxx97- thanks for the review! Aha, Tails mentioning tunnel of love ride would be funny...but awkward for everyone pretty much...because none of them are officially couples except Knuckles and Rouge, and no one really wants to encourage that in front of Cream. Lolz! I'm sorry for the suspense and even more for dragging it out an inexcusable amount of time, but it has finally come!**

**01SonAmy01- thanks so much for the review! And, no, sadly I'm too fanfiction illiterate to have figured out that speech bubble reply thing yet...but I think that's a great idea and I will take a poll at the end of these just to make sure everyone's up for that, but I think it's a much better idea than this. Thanks and your advice is really helpful! :)**

**HBee16- ugh I feel like a big giant meany! :( I took so long to update! But thanks so much for the review and I just looked up that deviantart picture :3 fuuunny XD Yeah, they'd kinda have to force him in, huh? But anyway, thanks for the review and please don't hate me for taking so long on this update! :/**

**Jayjay0219-haha I think you might've been the only one to get (and if not the only to point out) that that was Tails's way of payback. I've never tried the giant hamster balls personally, but two out of three of my siblings have and they always have them at my county's spring festival...which I may or may not have missed now that I think about it O.o But anyway, thanks for the review and sorry for the delay. :(**

**PhantomGurl12344- thanks for the review and, yeah, you know someone's a true friend when they're not afraid to be mean or rude around you sometimes :) As for Bloopers, like I said, I've really been trying to get me and sissy to sit down and do it, but when I'm not busy she is and vice versa. But with any luck, we'll update tomorrow right after she finishes school. Like, she's literally not ALLOWED to play Just Dance or whatever until we finish that chapter! **

**ANTAURIfan- thanks for the review. I hope the giant hamster balls lived up to your expectations on the funny chart, even if it only used a small portion of the chapter. Hah, yeah I always start with a plot goal or something but end up with a completely different intended chapter or something by the end, which isn't always a bad thing. I hope you don't hate me for the delay :}**

**Chicket- Thanks so much! :) I get what you mean about the lack of reviews thing, so no worries in that department. Up until I was about 14 my parents literally monitored my every internet action, so I get that. It's fine if you can't get in a review every time and I'll make sure to account for you as one of my readers whenever I go through :) Thanks and sorry this took so long to get up.**

**Okay, that's everyone! If any of you didn't read this above, I'm taking a poll. Would you all rather I continued doing review replies within the chapter or just message you the replies? And I can always do it like a split up between those who get messages and who get them in the chapter, especially if I need to switch for anonymous and people logged in. So whatever, thanks to everyone who still loves me enough to review and remember to give me your poll! Forgive any mistakes in this chapter, please, but I'm not even ready for bed and I'm about to pass out.**

**Thanks everyone and I'll hopefully talk to you all again soon! (-) 3 :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey all! (I didn't say "yall"! Take that Tennessee!) Heheh...sooo, this was definitely NOT a next-day update, was it -.- I feel mean T_T But on the bright side, it wasn't as long as the _last_ update! And even if this chapter is a little shorter, I did manage to throw in a bunch of brotherly Knuckles and a little more Sonamy fluff! So nyay (nyan/yay :3)! Okay, I've made spell checker hate me enough for before I even start the chapter, so onward to the reading and actually almost intellectually stimulating, half comprehensible part that you all read this fic for in the first place! XD**

Everyone went to sit down for lunch after a few more minutes. Cream and Vanilla took one smaller bench next to the others. Tails and Knuckles sat on one side of the bench to their side with Sonic on the edge across from Knuckles and Amy laying across her half the bench, a cool, wet napkin laid over her forehead to try to ease the nauseous headache. The others had dug into their nachos, corn dogs, and pizza by now, trying to savor the food with little to no luck in the ravaging hunger that had erupted with the smell of the food.

"Amy, dear, are you feeling alright?" Vanilla asked, leaning over towards her slightly.

Amy responded with a simple but effective thumbs up, to which Vanilla nodded, getting the memo that she just needed a moment of silence. Sonic sighed to himself, propping his chin against his elbows on the bench beside her.

"I'm sorry Knuckles is such a jerk that he made you get on the ride," he said, and added after her lack of response, "and that I didn't try to stop him. I shouldn't have gone along when you said otherwise."

Amy cautiously lifted the cloth from her face to look up at him. "Who are you and what have you done with Sonic?" Sonic chuckled slightly and Amy sat up, putting her hands over her forehead to prop herself upright on the table.

"So am I forgiven?"

"Sure. _Knuckles_ on the other hand..."

"Wapt?" Knuckles mumbled through a mouthful of nachos, having only brought back from his food hypnosis by the mention of his name.

"Haha, little sis doesn't forgive you for making her sick but she forgave _me!_" Sonic gloated.

"Big deal; she'd forgive you if you threw her off a cliff. I, though, have honorary forgiveness just by being her awesome big brother."

"You guys know I don't _really_ have any siblings, right?" Amy said and Knuckles pantomimed a heart attack.

"We're the equivalent of annoying siblings! I mean, we're all family, right?" Tails prompted.

"Yeah, Amy! Like Tails's my little brother, you know? Knuckles is your big brother, Cream's you little sis," Sonic started but was interrupted by Knuckles.

"And Vanilla's the group-wide Mom!"

Vanilla laughed and Cream nodded vigorously. "Even if we're not really related, we're still a family."

Amy giggled as she sat herself upright. "i know, guys. No worries," she smiled.

"Haha! So big brother forgiveness?" Knuckles asked.

"Sure. But that means I get 'little sister' forgiveness too," Amy smirked.

"Now I'm scared," Knuckles gulped, and not just to swallow the over-sized bite of food he'd just taken.

"Amy, you should eat something before we go back to the rides," Cream said trying to distract them before she and Knuckles turned this into another of their famous arguments.

Amy nodded and took a slice of pepperoni pizza, nibbling on the end slowly to make sure she wasn't still at risk of nausea. About a half hour later, Vanilla had to return to her booth and the others were wrapping up on lunch.

"Lets ride a roller coaster now!" Tails joked.

"Yeah right," Amy rolled her eyes.

"So what now?" Cream asked.

"Maybe we should go around to some of the game booths for awhile," Sonic suggested.

"Oh yeah! I saw this adorable Silver the Hedgehog plushy!" Amy gushed sarcastically, making Sonic roll his eyes with irritation.

"How does anyone even know about Silver? Well, you know, other than Sonic and us," Tails wondered.

"Maybe they've all played the video games," Knuckles suggested and they all shushed him.

"No! You can't break the fourth wall _here_ Knucklehead!"

"Whatever," the echidna shrugged and they headed down a path leading mostly to games and such.

The first one they stopped by was a basketball toss, which most of them failed at miserably, seeing as how the hoops were rigged so the ball could only make it in if you get just the right angle. Tails was the only one who got one, which earned him a miniature stuffed monkey that hung around his neck. The next was a balloon squirting game where Cream dominated! The prizes were all the same thing, so she chose an orange snake wearing sunglasses and wrapped it up her arm as they went.

"Oooh! It's one of those test your strength games!" Knuckles pointed excitedly ahead. "Hah! I bet I'll beat you all!"

"Don't bet on it just yet; Amy's the one with mad hammer skills," Tails pointed out and the pink hedgehog smirked at Knuckles.

Knuckles harrumphed. "Well that doesn't make her any stronger than me! Come one, let's all do it!"

"I don' really want to, but you guys go ahead and I'll watch," Cream said as they stepped up.

"Tails, you wanna go first?" Sonic offered, seeing he was a little reluctant to step into line.

"Uh, sure I guess. Just no one laugh at me!"

"No worries, we're all just saving it for Knuckles," Amy said.

"No need," the echidna said smugly as Tails swung the mallet at the bell. It went about half way up (past the "weak" and "you can do better!" spots) to the green area proclaiming it was an "Acceptable" hit.

Sonic jumped up next, hitting to the spot just above Tails' and one below the space just under the bell that said "Good Arm!". The hedgehog smiled and passed the hammer to an anticipating Knuckles who was practically jumping up and down with excitement. He reared back with great ease with the heavy mallet and swung at the metal scale, hitting it way off center and barely avoiding the ground as it tipped off at a corner. The bar jumped up quickly but stopped just at "You can do better!", causing Knuckles's jaw to drop.

"What? I can't-it didn't-this thing is rigged!"

"Haha, yeah, you're _amazing_ Knuckles!" Sonic teased, all of them having already burst into laughter.

"Oh shut up!" the echidna thundered, a mixture of anger and embarrassment on his face. "Fine, let's see _Amy_ do any better," he griped, handing the hammer off to her.

"Ew," she said, tossing it between her two hands a few times to weigh it. "It's all...different and stuff. Tails, am I allowed to use my hammer with a broken leg?"

"Yeah as long as it doesn't interfere with your balance," the fox shrugged.

"Soooniiic?" Amy questioned.

"Go ahead; it an exception if you're showing up a braggy echidna," Sonic grinned and Amy handed the mallet back to the man running the booth.

She summoned her own hammer and the man eyed it skeptically, mostly for confusion as to how it appeared, but shrugged it off and let her continue. Amy swung and hit the bell so hard it left an echoing ring in the air and a dent at the top of the machine.

"That's a winner! Pick any prize you'd like," he said and Knuckles's jaw hit the dirt.

"No fair! Anyone could win with _that_ giant thing!" he grouched, stepping up and pushing Amy's hands off the handle. Amy glared slightly at first but cracked a smile as he tried to lift it...and failed. Knuckles blinked a few times in confusion and tried again to lift the giant piko piko, but ended up getting it no more than a centimeter off the ground before it plunged back into the dirt. "WHAT THE HECK?"

"Don't hurt yourself, Knuxie," Sonic teased, chortling as he tried not to laugh.

Amy smiled in satisfaction and leaned against the cue line railing while the guy running the booth handed her a giant tie-dye style turtle she had pointed out. "Need some help?" she offered, picking the hammer up with one hand and spinning it around a few times to show off its "lightness".

"How do you DO that?" Knuckles gasped, trying to take it once she was already holding it up but just being pulled against the ground with it. Amy giggled. "Seriously! Where do you even _keep_ that thing that it doesn't affect how much _you_ weigh?" Amy took the hammer so they could step out of the line and go to stand off to the side in the grass.

"Let me try!" Sonic said, prying it from Knuckles fists and also having no luck to lift it. "Okay Amy, no offense, but you're a freak!"

"Yeah, no offense whatsoever," she said sarcastically.

"Seriously! Where do you even _keep_ that thing?" Knuckles asked, now indeterminable between outraged, embarrassed, and utterly clueless.

"Yeah, I'll tell you," Amy rolled her eyes, easily taking the hammer out of the small crater it had made at Knuckles's feet and, just like that, it was gone. "Eek!" she squealed as Knuckles jumped to his feet and picked her up.

"You're still light! How does that work?" the echidna said.

"Chill out, Knux. Don't break her or anything," Sonic warned, laughing as Amy flinched and tried to situate herself without feeling Knuckles was going to drop her.

"But I'm serious! You felt that hammer, right? It's ridiculous!"

"Yeah but-whoa!" Sonic yelled and held out his arms as Knuckles casually tossed the girl in his direction. Amy screamed, but was caught perfectly intact by both Sonic's quick reflexes and Knuckles's good aim.

"What the heck did you do that for?" Amy yelled.

"Because you're light. And I don't get it, so I threw you at Sonic," Knuckles said with a casual shrug.

"You don't make any sense! You can't just _throw_ someone, namely ME, without even-Ah!" she was interrupted as Sonic tossed her right back at Knuckles. "STOP DOING THAT!"

"But it's fun," Sonic said with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, you're like a Frisbee! Go long, Sonic!" Knuckles joked.

"Don't go long! NO!" Amy was thrown again, but this time she clung to Sonic the moment she was in his grasp. "Stop doing that!"

"I don't think we have a choice but to stop; you're kind of clawing me," Sonic pointed out and she switched her nails digging into his arm with a bone breaking grasp on his shoulders. "Yeah, that's much better."

"Oh fine, killjoy," Knuckles muttered, smirking as he grabbed her crutches and started hopping back and forth on them. "So what's next?"

"Can we go play Skee Ball?" Cream asked, pointing over to a booth.

"I love Skee Ball!" Sonic said.

"Well let's go then," Tails directed.

"I'm gonna keep these crutches awhile," laughed Knuckles, trying to balance himself enough to use them like stilts. "Sonic, you're on cripple duty."

"I'm not a cripple!"

"Whatever. My arms were getting bored since I haven't gotten any prizes yet," he said with a pout.

"Don't worry Sonic; you'll get something by the end of the day," Cream said reassuringly.

"Oh cool! They have Lucky Ducks!" Exclaimed Tails. "I love those!"

"Oh me too!" Amy agreed.

"We can do that after Skee Ball; I just really need to pone someone at something first," Knuckles said, still grumbling about the hammer incident.

"Oh well good luck with that then," Sonic teased and the hot head growled.

"Okay children, let's not fight," Amy said, rolling her eyes. "Knuckles, I need my crutches back now."

"Make me!"

"How about _I _make _sense_ instead?"

"Whatever. Here; they hurt anyway," Knuckles said.

"Gee, thanks for making them too tall," she griped, trying to lower them back to the right height.

"Come on guys! Skee Ball!" Sonic called, he and the other two having already gone to the machines while Amy and Knuckles wrestled with the stubborn crutches to put them back down to correct height.

"Now, about that ponage," Amy smirked as they stepped up to the games with the others.

"Fine then, you're on!"

**Haha, I love ending stuff like that! XD Idk why...just it appeals to me. A challenge that leaves you in slight suspense but not quite a cliff hanger, per se. Okay, review replies! (And, btw, after this I will just be replying via message rather than in the chapter.)**

**jazzy roxx97-Yay! Happy summer break! Yeah, sometimes I feel like I'm just reading this story instead of writing it and end up sending myself a makeshift review in the author's note 0_0 I've been told I have issues. But anyway, I do that a lot while I'm reading fan fics, just to, almost on reflex, assume something's going to happen a specific way because it would be cutest and then end up calling anything that isn't fluffy a "sudden plot twist". Lolz :3**

**snowyprower17- thanks for the review! Those rides always sound fun to me and I'm all for it and wait in line and get on and then regret it as soon as the door to the ride closses. I haven't been to any carnivals or anything this year (so far ;D) but I'm going by memory here...and I totally remember the adrenaline when I got on the "Gravitron" and the quite literal puking when I got off :( But I regret nothing by way of carnivals! Not even the corn dogs with too much mustard that may or may not have to do with the nausea. Lolz :P**

**sirwilliamblackstone- Thanks for the review :) I try to balance the humor with the fluff so that it can be cute, laughable, and remain under the K+ rating that I'm uptight about changing in order to add a little _more_ fluff. As for TailsxCream, I honestly think they're adorable and will probably add in a bit of their fluff without even noticing (like I have so far -,-) even though I'm a Tailsmo supporter :) Honestly, though, I think this story will have to be TailsxCream if anything for those two, seeing as how Cosmo isn't really in it... :D**

**HBee16- Lol, I've gotta be completely honest with you here: I keep finding myself basing the characters off me and some of my friends/family, especially here at the carnival where they're all here together and there's so much variety that you HAVE to give them different personalities. Cream is based off my younger sister (not the one from Bloopers though) and Tails is my older one (sorry sissy; I know you wanted to be Sonic :P). Sonic is probably my little brother, since we're mostly the same taste in rides but he has to force me on a few. Knuckles is (I think) based off a friend from band class (a few years ago) because our end of the year trips were always to some amusement park and once when we were in the same group this is pretty much exactly what happened. Rouge is one of my best friends (also from the band trip) who was slightly scared but still with a "let's go!" chipper vibe (like she always had/has). Last, but of course not least, is Amy, who (out of habbit) I based on myself. I'm good with just about every ride and I was even the first of our group to go on the 100 yard zipline last Saturday at my dad's company picnic, but when the ride gets spinny I get pukey :( Seriously, in eighth grade band trip they made me go on that spinning cups ride or whatever FIRST and in return I made them carry me the first half of the day (because I'm just that nice ;D)! Okay, now I'm blabbering. Thanks for the review and I'd totally check out whatever you and your sis put together if you decide to give it a try ;)**

**Jayjay0219- Aw, thanks so much! It always makes me get a really big smile to read such nice reviews! I'm still sorry about the delay but I'm glad to know you think this story is worth the wait! I'll always promise myself to write a certain part by a certain day, but it never really seems to work out right and I just feel like I'm letting everyone (including myself) down :( But your review really cheered me up! I'm glad to know I have dedicated readers like you who will forgive my delays and stick with this story through the wait :D**

**cmsa- Yay! Another empowering nice review! Thanks for the feedback and I'm glad you'll forgive the delays and enjoy the chapters just the same! I hate it when you're left in suspense for so long reading a story, but I know how you feel that it's more of relief that the story wasn't abandoned and that you finally get to see what's next rather than feeling angry about the wait in the first place. :D**

**01SonAmy01- Yayzies back atcha! Lolz :3 Yeah, I like the whole idea of Sonic being like the Amy-sitter the whole time; it adds a sense of cute and still childish sort of romance, which is (I hope) the main aura of the Sonamy aspects of this story anyway. So that's good that you like it too :) I'm glad you like that chapters and hope you haven't been killed yet by my brutal immunity skills in the art of waiting for updates. I'm so awful! Lol, but Sonamy is probably my (current) favoritest couple of all tiiime!1! (Except maybe me and Taylor Lautner...we'd be much cuter :3) Writing about all those rides made me really want to go to a carnival or something, but (being in a small town run by mostly very old people who probably don't know HOW to use a computer) our town website's adds for the "Upcoming Spring Carnival" were last updated in 2006...Which isn't very happy-making -_- Plus I've sort of sworn off radio for the time being until my mom gets over her country music obsession phase (don't ask; it's traumatizing) so I don't hear much about it there either. But thanks for the review! Lolz, took me long enough! XD**

**hotpink- thanks for the review! I'm glad you remembered to vote and I'll try to be doing more frequent updates now! My only problem for the time being is my library's summer reading program and my obsession with completing the entire thing (not just the required parts) before the halfway point. Okay, that's not really possible, but I'd like to get close!**

**Phantom808- Thanks! I try to keep my awesome levels up there (seeing as how half the population at the high school magnet schools only knows me by the name "Awesome". Long story short, if no one at a party knows your name, make the best of it ;3)! Yes, I'm hoping there will be a lot of fluff in this story but (though I wouldn't mind too much if I was allowed) no hardcore romance. It is only a K+ rating, so there can't really be too many detailed make-out sessions before I'm reported. I will, however, get them all as close and cute as I can without stepping on the toes of any ratings rules. **

**Okay, that's it for review replies (forever I guess within the chapter) so let's wrap this up. It's nearly midnight and I may be the world's first summer braker to appreciate a good night's sleep, which means I'm tiiireddd!1! =_={zzz} Plus I've got library volunteering lined up in the morning and I'd like to get some more reading done (the break only lasts so long before I'm officially joined at the hip to my younger neighbors as their babysitter) so off I go!**

**Thanks for reading and review if you'd like a puppy!**

**!**

**!**

**Idk...you won't get a puppy (from me) but still review! :D**


	17. Chapter 17

**Yay! New chapter! It's not very long, but still longer than I expected it to turn out, so hooray! And it didn't take like a year to update this time! Double hooray! Okay, I'm too hyper to type without messing anything else up, so on with the chapter!**

"Can we go on the Ferris wheel now?" Cream asked excitedly as they got off another ride. "Please? It's almost dark now!"

"Hm," Knuckles looked to the sky ponderously. "Well, the sunset is almost over."

"Plus I think we've been on everything at least once today," Tails pointed out.

"And I'm tiiireed," Amy complained with a fake pouty face.

"And Amy's tiiireed," Sonic mimicked and she elbowed him in the side.

"Well I guess we're in agreement," Rouge said, having rejoined them again about half an hour ago.

"Great! Let's get in line!"

The sun had mostly left the sky and the long day was coming to an end. Everything was cast over by a dulling peach-colored shade and a few twinkling stars were beginning to appear to the east, where the moon was already present as well. They had been at the carnival for hours now and had all enjoyed themselves the entire time without finding a moment of boredom. Now that they day was coming to an end, everyone found their adrenaline and energy draining and were ready to wrap it up for the day.

"All of the group cars are full; we'll have to pair two-by-two," Tails said, faintly smiling as Rouge grabbed onto Knuckles and Cream took his hand. That left Amy and Sonic stuck together whether they liked it (duh) or not (!).

"Wait, are Knuckles and Rouge getting on next or us?" Amy asked as Cream and Tails got onto car number 11.

"Yeah, why?" Rouge shrugged as they stepped forward.

"But then we'll be on number 13!" she said, grabbing Sonic's arm tightly.

"Is that...bad?" Knuckles wondered as their car came up and the other people began to step off.

"Are you guys illiterate or something? Helloo? 13, unlucky number, ring any bells?"

"Oh yeah! Cool," Sonic said.

"Cool? Knuckles, switch with us!"

"Sorry, Amy, too late. But have fun. Mwuahahahaha!" he laughed.

"Ugh! Sonic can we _pleeease_ switch with the next people?"

"Sorry, Ames. But it's not like we're gonna fall off or anything. 13 is just as safe as any other cart," Sonic said, practically dragging her onto the cart.

"No, no wait as second! Sir, is this car safe?" she asked the employee as he put their safety bar down.

"No, just the other ones," he said sarcastically.

"Eep," Amy squeaked and the other two laughed. "It moved!"

"It'll do that. No one has too much fun when the ride just sits there," Sonic laughed.

"Hey, don't tease! I like Ferris wheels, but why did we have to be number 13? There's plenty of other great numbers we could've gotten you know!"

"Calm down; it's fine, Ames."

Amy took a deep breath and sighed. Just then, the cart jerked forward again as it moved onto another car. "Eek! Why can't it stop doing that?"

"Just a few more and then it'll go all the way around," Sonic said in a soothing voice.

"Yeah and then start jerking again. Ah!" she involuntarily latched her arms around Sonic's arm at this point, who chuckled as she did.

"I've got you, Amy. Nothing bad is gonna happen just because we're in a certain numbered car," he said, putting one arm around her.

Amy looked up at him and nodded slightly, trying to calm down as the car moved again for the final car to be refilled. She took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh as the cars all began to move slowly and smoothly all the way around the circle. Once it had made two full rotations, it began to stop again so the passengers in car one could get out. There were a total of 18 cars on the ride, meaning that they'd be on of the later groups off and they were only a little past the dock point right now.

Amy let her grip around Sonic's forearms loosen slightly as she tried to calm down. The cars were stopped for about a minute at a time as they unloaded to retrieve more passengers. The sun hung at the edge of the horizon, just barely lighting the sky now, across from them on the other side of the ride.

"See? Not so bad, right?" Sonic asked.

"Mhm," Amy agreed, still trying to calm her nerves and let go of the better judgment that was absolutely against the number 13.

…

"I wonder how high this ride goes," Cream mused as the last car was refilled and they began to move smoothly for a moment.

"Hm..." Tails thought for a second on that one. "Well, the metal braces at the bottom have to be at least ten feet, since they're aimed about 240 degrees, and with the thickness of the bearings on the ride and circumference of the wheel I'd say the highest point is at about 68 feet high. That's about standard," Tails nodded to himself.

"How do you figure out things like that so easily, Tails?" the rabbit wondered in amazement.

"Well...I'm not really sure. I've always been good with math and science; it just comes naturally to me."

"That's amazing, Tails! The only thing I've ever been really good at is cooking," Cream sighed.

"Yeah but you are a much better chef than most of us!"

"Amy's still better than me, though."

"Well she's had a lot more time to practice. I'm sure by the time you're her age you'll be just as good if not better."

"You think so?"

"I'm sure of it," Tails said with a smile and Cream brightened up, reaching over to give him a friendly hug.

…

"Look at that sunset!" Rouge mused as her and Knuckles' car approached the top. "Absolutely stunning."

"Definitely," Knuckles agreed, smiling to himself.

"I think I'd be satisfied if it was always this beautiful. No night or day; just the sunset," Rouge thought aloud.

"But then moments like this wouldn't be nearly as special."

"Hm...I guess so," Rouge said, still not sounding fully convinced.

Knuckles slipped his hand over hers, trying to be discrete, but was found incapable as she leaned into him.

"What made you finally get up the nerve to ask me out that day?" Rouge wondered.

"Hm? In all honesty...it was Amy's idea."

"And you listened?"

"Yeah well...I guess I just got tired of waiting around for this and..." he trailed off and Rouge breathed a laugh.

"Well I'm glad you did," she whispered, leaving a kiss on his cheek as she leaned away.

"_That's_ what I'll never get tired of."

…

Amy took in a deep breath, hoping it would be the last of many on this ride. She really wanted to relax and enjoy it, but there was just something unnerving to her about it. Maybe it was just paranoia about the car number, she tried to convince herself.

"It's such a beautiful sunset," Sonic said quietly.

"Hm?"

The car moved so they were only one spot behind the car on top (Knuckles and Rouge). Amy forced herself to relax-a difficult task-and lean against Sonic slightly.

"It is nice up here," she agreed.

"There's really nothing to worry about. The ride is perfectly safe," he assured her.

_It's not the ride I'm worried about. _"Okay, you're right. I guess I'm just tired."

"Relax. It's fine," Sonic said, holding her gently against him. He tried as well to take a calming breath; he and Amy had never (willingly on both their parts) been this close before. Sonic didn't want her to get the wrong idea, but at the same time he didn't want to spoil an opportunity to be close to her in a more than friendly way.

Their car moved so that now they were at the top, their vision a clear sight towards the sunset, which was fading quickly from view. Amy closed her eyes and sighed, trying to let go completely of her nervous feeling. She reached her left hand up to intercept Sonic's as it hung around her shoulders and cautiously wrapped her fingers up with his.

"Sonic," she began and paused while he met her gaze. "Thanks you for being there for me. Not just now but...you're always here when I need you. Thanks."

Sonic, slightly taken aback paused for a second but quickly recovered. "Of course, Amy. I never want you to feel scared or alone."

She smiled and whispered, "thanks for caring," as she leaned against his side.

"EH-heh-heh-heh-HEH!" Came the booming, annoying laugh that they all recognized a little too well from behind them.

They both gasped and Amy began to turn around when a mechanical arm reached into the car and pulled her out. The frightened hedgehog screamed, along with many other people on the ride or in the carnival. Sonic attempted to jump from his seat, but the metal bars holding them all in place had automatically tightened upon the threat.

"Now, Sonic, let's see if you can find my new base _this_ time! It's in a EGG-cellant hiding place if I do say so myself. Ah-hahaHA!"

Sonic growled and forced the bar back just enough to turn around. "Eggman, you better let her go right now!"

"Oh are you _sure_ you'd like me to do that? We're awfully high up," laughed the evil doctor.

"Sonic!" Amy screamed as began Eggman cackling again.

"Haha! We'll see if you can find her, much less escape if you ever do! So long, Sonic!" and with that, Eggman disappeared, taking Amy with him.

"Hey Sonic!" Knuckles shouted, having already broken out of his and Rouge's cart. The bat flew them up and dropped Knuckles into his cart, where he easily bent the metal restraint bar off of Sonic.

"Thanks, buddy," Sonic said, jumping swiftly to the ground and in front of the manager of the ride, who looked more than slightly panicked. "Bring the rest of the people off; you should probably shut down for awhile so that nobody panics."

The employee followed instructions and got the rest of the people off the ride. Sonic, Knuckles, and Rouge waited on the ground for Cream and Tails and then they went over to Vanilla's booth to explain what had happened. They left Amy's crutches with her and set off to find the maniacal doctor Eggman.

**Dun dun DUUNN! Cliif hanger! Yay! **

**Audience: Booo! *throws tomatoes***

**Oh, I love you guys too! Now who wants pasta? I've got all the sauce ingredients now! Now, if I'm done being a smart allelic, omg OMG OH EM GEE! SONAMY fluffy fluffy FLUFF! Cute cute CUUUTEE chapter yayyy! Plus a bonus prize of evil scientist abduction! Haha, isn't life grand?**

**Audience: Ahhh! Someone get a psychiatrist!**

**Yes! Dr. Scratchandsniff FTW! (Sorry, I've watched at least six hours of Animaniacs in the past two days)!1! Anyway, you all got your replies in advance today (except you, anonymous peoples :/) so that might be all! I have things to bake, a garden to weed, and smelly dogs that I should bathe, plus a shopping list and supper to do, so I probably should've put this chapter off until some other time anyway, but whatever ! (idk) I didn't want to lose the idear! :D So here it is. Review!**

**And one more thing: if you actually read my authors notes, make sure the FIRST word of your review is...wait for it... "casserole". Because that's what I have to cook RIGHT TEN MINUTES AGO for a family reunion tomorrow and I'm temporarily (you wish) insane. Okay, bye little fuzzy heads!**

**Casserole!**

**XD**


	18. Chapter 18

**Helloooo readers! This is my story! And you are reading it! Woo-hoo! It now had 18 chapters and...8O 122 reviews? OMG! YOU GUYS ARE THE BESTEST EEEVVVERRR! (Okay, I can barely tell what that says if I look at it all at once). But I had no idea we hit 100! YYYYAAAAAYYYYY!1!1! Thanks times 122! You guys rock my neon knee-high socks off! Lolz XD And to reward you, here's another chapter! … except I feel it's exceedingly lame D': I'm just no good at battle scenes...you'll see. Lame. Times 122. Sigh.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter, because at least it's here!**

"Eggman, you've got a lot of nerve doing that!" Amy yelled after she had been locked up in Eggman's floating fort.

"Oh and you _don't_, little sassy mouth?" the doctor asked, rolling his eyes as he scanned to make sure she wasn't wearing a locator chip or something.

"Touche; I'll agree that I have more nerves than you."

"I'll say!" Decoe threw in, but melted back to the shadows after a glare from Amy.

"But anyway, in case your giant nose and not-so-much-scarey-as-hilariously-outdated sunglasses are impairing your vision and you didn't notice, I have a broken leg."

"Oh how fascinating," Eggman said boredly as he sat down at a computer keyboard and began typing furiously. "And does this affect your ability to be captured in any way?"

"No, but it affects your morality status, which is increasingly low if you were curious, to a below ground low."

"Oh goody! Momma Robotnic will be so proud," he said sarcastically.

"Now tell me, Doctor, how far back does this psychological trouble span? Was it a more recent develop, or would you trace it back to your childhood?" Amy mimicked a psychiatrist.

"It's none of your beeswax, thank you very much. You just be a good little girl until Sonic comes to rescue you and, as always, falls right into my trap!"

Amy almost laughed. "Yeah, you know, it's not so much 'falling into your trap' if he knows what to expect every time."

Eggman growled. "I still have a few surprises and tricks up my sleeve! Don't underestimate my genious, pinky."

"Yeah, you're so 'genious' you didn't even spell that right!"

"What? I didn't spe-"

"Sure you did! I saw the speech bubble and you put in a random o. It's g-e-n-i-u-s, genius."

"Stop breaking the forth wall you brat!"

Amy rolled her eyes, as did all the readers **(you guys) **and continued with their witty back and forth to pass time and, indirectly, keep him distracted for when Sonic and the others did arrive.

…

"Got anything yet, Tails?" Sonic asked, pacing somewhat nervously around Tails's computer base, where the fox was busy trying to get a location or lead on Eggman's ship.

"Same as last time you asked me, two seconds ago, Sonic. I don't think I can track him; Eggman has a really good cloaking system and the only way that I think we'll find him from here is if we get a lead from a report or sighting, and I'm already monitoring all the forums."

Sonic sighed. "Then why don't I just get going and you can beep me if you get anything and I'll do you if I spot them?"

"Okay, first of all, at least make half an attempt not to drag one sentence out for the length of what could be three. And second of all, I said you could go and look when we first got here. Just take the wrist com and make sure to tell me before you charge in if you spot them."

And with that, Sonic charged out the door with a second glance. The two-tailed fox rolled his eyes at the hyper speedster and continued his medial search for sightings of the Doctors infamous ship.

Meanwhile, Sonic was already zooming across the planet in search of the ship, recruiting anyone he recognized to give him an update the moment they saw or heard something. It was only five minutes later when Tails called him over the wrist com.

"Hey Sonic," the fox began, "I think we've got a lead, but it's not online yet in full detail. Meet me around the bottom of Angel Island at that bakery and we kind find the person from there."

"You rock, Tails! I'll be there in a Sonic Second."

…

"So what's your _evil_ plan for world domination this time, Eggy?"

"Aha! But that would spoil it if I told you before your little boyfriend got here, now wouldn't it?"

Amy groaned. "So you're not going to give me the whole song and dance thing?"

"In due time, my dear. Just as soon as that rapid rodent hero of yours arrives."

"Ugh," she rolled her eyes, "So you're actually just gonna make me sit here with nothing to do until Sonic gets here? That's very bad hosting skills,"

"Be quiet, you, or I'll lock you up downstairs where it will take Sonic even _longer _to find you!"

Amy did another eye roll and tried to keep the smile off her face as she caught an unmistakable flash of blue zoom by one of Eggman's security screens. She held her well practiced look of dismay and annoyance and attempted to distract the doctor while Sonic got in.

"Sooo...read any good books lately?"

"Humph. Evil Geniuses have no time for pointless pastimes like reading."

"Oh yeah, it's all just plotting."

"Egg-sactly!"

"You know you could get rid of all those stupid egg puns any day now and absolutely no one would miss them. In fact, we might take you as a little _more _serious. Just a thought."

"I don't care about your silly little thoughts. And I also don't care how ridiculous I look or sound-"

"There's a shocker."

"As long as," he continued, "I'm causing mayhem and getting closer every time to finally egg-sterminating that blue pest."

"Whatever baldy," Amy mumbled, turning away slightly to hide a smirk as she noticed the cameras catching a glimpse of Sonic in a passage right outside the control center, where they were.

"Hmph," the doctor harrumphed. "You'd do well to watch yourself, pinky. Ooph!"

"Well apparently so would you," Sonic said heroically smirking, as he had just kicked in the door that had bumped into Eggman's chair.

"Ah Sonic! What an egg-citing surprise! Well now that you've located my ship, let's see if you can egg-scape it!"

"That one was a bit of a stretch," Sonic mumbled to Amy, who simply shrugged.

"Well I'd rather he do pun stretches than some other kind." They both shuddered slightly.

"So what's the big important trap this time, Baldy McNose-Hair?" Sonic continued and the fat genius growled.

"First of all, don't call me that EVER! And second of all, why don't _you_ tell us!" And with that, he pulled a lever and a trap door opened out of the ceiling, dropping an anvil down a few feet away from Sonic to an X on the floor he had been standing next to but never on.

"Is that it?" Sonic asked, looking back and forth between the anvil and the scientist. "Kind of juvenile, don't you think?"

"Not to mention totally 90's cartoonish."

"Eheheheh! Of course there's more! Just wait and watch!"

"I dunno, doc; I'm not too good at waiting. Mind if I scram?" But just as Sonic was lifting a foot to move, there came a loud screeching sound where the anvil had hit and was now making the floor sink and cave beneath it.

"Um, you know no one's standing there, right?" Amy wondered.

"Sh! It's just getting to the good part!" Eggman said when the metal finally gave out and a loud clanging thud sounded from the floor beneath. They heard a robotic charging noise and then what sounded like a blow-gun as a pointer-stick type device whooshed out of the whole in the floor, went straight up, and arched slightly as it came down upon a differently colored metal panel in the floor. The panel sunk slightly and there was a coiling sound from the ceiling. Sonic looked up and saw a perfectly blended door in the ceiling open above him and a cage dropping out of it. He took a few quick steps to the side and let the cage land right beside him. However, he made sure to stand on the opposite side of the cage so that from Eggman's viewpoint, he looked like he was caught.

"Aha! Now who's the juvenile one?" Eggman yelled while fist pumping to himself. "It's you! Hahahahaha!"

Sonic shrugged. "Well if you insist." And with that he hopped over the cage and did a few quick circles around Eggman, too fast to be seen, as he tied his mustache in a bow, put some goofy glasses on him, and twisted his shoelaces together before the doctor could even react. "If it's immature you want, that's what you'll get McNose-Hair! Mleeen!" And with that, he pulled down his eye lid and stuck out his tongue before zooming over and busting Amy out of her cage.

"You annoying pest! Get back here and fight like you mean it!"

"Sorry Doc, but apparently I'm too juvenile to take anything seriously, especially a fight. Later!" And with that, Sonic and Amy took off out of the ship.

**Well, how was that? As lame as I promised, huh? Ack! I just can't write today! Plus I think I was supposed to be over at my neighbors house to babysit an hour ago...so if I get in trouble I'm blaming this story! No, I think they were coming over here when they got home...ugh! I have no idea!**

**Anyway, hope you all are enjoying your replies; I think I'll attempt to start doing them NOT five minutes before I update; that might be easier to keep track of. Idk though. :/ And as for the awful chapter, I'm just crossing my fingers that the witty banter was enough to make your pity laughs drown out the sighs of lameness. Okay, I need to check synonyms for "lame". Whatever.**

**Thanks for reading and hope you all review! :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello readers! I'm finally back! With a short but still existent chapter! Yaaay! Okay, I just wanna upload this now, so hope you enjoy! I just thought I'd warn you all in advance, though, that this chapter was choked out throughout the course of a week, during which time I've had horrible writer's block, so I hope you are able to excuse any confusion and/or short/unfilling elements of the chapter. Thanks! ;]**

Sonic lay boredly on the roof of he and Tails's place. He sighed and slipped in through one of the windows, since it was starting to get bright and hot out. Being outside only lasted awhile at a time lately, since it started getting hot pretty quickly. It was Thursday and the week had been going by pretty slowly for Sonic. Amy had been spending some time with Cream and Vanilla, since Cream had a few days off of school this week before her summer break officially began next week.

Sonic, on the other extreme, hadn't seen much of her since Monday, which was kind of a weird change from seeing her everyday. He'd been getting in some running time, sure, but the sudden plummet in Amy time had left him bored and without much to do. And with the summer weather becoming more prominent, he'd spent some time inside too, often getting sucked into one of Knuckles's sports takeovers on the TV.

"Hey Sonic! You wanna help me in the garage?" Tails called upstairs, knowing that his older-brother figure was home, since the front door had still been shut _and_ locked, two things the speedster always forgot to do when leaving.

Sonic shrugged, figuring he had nothing better to do so far today. "Be down in just a sec," he hollered back and then zoomed down the stairs, getting to the garage before Tails had even moved. "Hurry up, buddy! I'm waaaitiiing."

Tails rolled his eyes and went down to the garage. "I'm trying to fix up this ship for a friend of mine, but since I didn't build it, the layout is kind of different than I'm used to," he explained, showing Sonic the inside of a sleek black ship. "I just need you to sit inside and tell me which of those lights come on and when. Sonic, are you even listening?"

"Huh? Oh sure. Lights and friends. Got it. Now, what should I do?"

Tails sighed and did a slight face palm. "Just sit inside and tell me when something blinks."

"Got it!" Sonic hopped inside the cockpit and sat back in the seat. "There's already two lights on."

"That's fine. Just tell me if and when they go off, along with any others that come on."

"There's a blinking one too."

"What? Ugh, Sonic, that's the key chain."

"Oh. Right. I knew that!"

Tails rolled his eyes and continued working on the ship in silence a few minutes. Sonic looked to be growing bored very quickly, so the fox decided to strike up some conversation to keep him awake at the very least. "So..."

"Huh?"

"Amy's been busy lately?"

"Yup," he said, popping his p for emphasis. Tails nodded and Sonic continued. "Cream was getting off for Summer break starting next week; I think tomorrow was supposed to be her last day of school, and that's pretty much just for report cards and stuff."

"Oh I see," Tails nodded in understanding. "So Amy's gonna be pretty busy this summer already?"

"Not the whole time; she said Cream was starting with most of the juniors' classes at Vanilla's shop too, so I'll still hang out over there a lot."

Tails grinned slightly but tried to hide the subtle expression from his stubborn brother-like figure. "What about right now?"

Sonic shrugged. "As far as I know, I wasn't going anywhere this week unless Amy calls or something. It's getting kinda boring; I almost wish Eggman would come up with some almost tricky scheme or something just to give me something to do."

"Well, you're always welcome to help me out."

Sonic gave one hard "Hah!" and then turned to see Tails's serious expression. "Wait, so you were for real?"

"Well it's not like I really _need_ extra help, but as long as you didn't go unsupervised I wouldn't mind the company. You might even pick up a few things from the Pro."

"Yeah, sure little buddy. The green light with the squiggley picture came on."

"Okay good; that one means I finally tapped the right circuit."

Sonic rolled his eyes, smiling at the fox's amazing whits in the world of technology. How fate had put the two of them together he would never know, but despite their being practically polar opposites in skill, they had always made great companions. He allowed himself to drift into a surface thought cloud pondering how the universe worked in such ways that always ended up like this. It was really very amazing.

"Soonic? You still awake?" Tails called after what felt like only a few seconds.

"Huh? Yeah; what's up?" the hedgehog snapped out of his mind.

Tails sighed. "Never mind. I think we're done here for now; wanna get lunch?"

"You know it!"

…

"Wow, Cream, your garden really is doing well this year!" Amy mused, hobbling along the little dirt path just behind her younger friend. "The tomatoes are all so big and red! I feel guilty for not doing much of a garden this year."

"Don't feel bad, Amy. The only reason mine is doing this good is because Vector let us use this part of their yard for my garden, plus my mom helped me with everything. And besides, even if you had started one earlier, it would've been hard to take care of now, with you leg hurt and everything."

Amy shrugged, hating to admit defeat to the stupid little cast for everything. "I guess."

"Choo CHAOOO!" Cheese, the chao, at that point took the opportunity to pop up between some foliage in the lettuce, scaring both the girls back a step in surprise.

"Cheese! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?" Cream scolded, though the threatening part was lost on her high pitched voice.

"Chaooo!"

Amy giggled at the cute blue animal and Cream sighed, laughing a little too. It was hard to stay mad at a chao. "Well I'm glad you got to spend some time with me this week, Amy, since I might not see you as much for the first part of summer."

"Me too. But at least I won't still be in a cast by the time all your camps and classes with your mom are done. Then we'll be able to go swimming and hiking and camping and stuff."

"That'll be so fun! I can't wait to your all better!" the rabbit nodded excitedly.

"Hm, me too," Amy giggled in return.

They continued their tour of the garden for a good while before heading back to Cream's house for lunch. They hung out there for a little while, trying to avoid the noon time sun that would just keep getting hotter for about three more hours.

A little while later, Amy found herself slumped onto the couch. Cream's mom had gotten home and they had somewhere to go, so she had come home again. Now it was only about 2:00 and the rest of her day was unoccupied. Thinking she could get in some lazy time, she turned on the TV. That lasted all of 12 minutes before she realized how short of an attention span she had with the thing and turned it off.

"I know! I'll call Sonic!" the pink hedgehog said aloud and then did a shifty-eyed scan around the room, already knowing she was alone. "And...stop talking to myself." she sighed and went to the phone.

…

Sonic leaned against the wall at the end of the hallway, trying to think of another way to kill time. The day just seemed to be going so slowly. He turned his head to one side and noticed the calender and skimmed across it halfheartedly. The pieces soon connected in his head and he realized it was already Thursday. Wait...Thursday? That only gave him a little while longer to find this weeks perfect...something! Without a second thought, he rushed out the door to try to find something, hoping he wouldn't have to go to far.

Maybe if he went to places he didn't visit around here often he could find something he'd missed. Maybe something like Amy's Meadow. Who knew; there could be perfection anywhere, if you were willing to look hard enough.

It wasn't more than an hour later when Sonic came back in the door, a slightly smarmy look on his face. He slowed as pace on the way to the living room and found Tails there messing with a small device. He looked up as Sonic came in and the hedgehog nodded a hello.

"Did you close the door when you came in?" Tails asked. Sonic's head slumped like a disappointed child and he went quickly to the front door, arriving back in his spot only a second later. "Amy called while you were gone."

"She did?" he brightened significantly.

Tails gave a laugh. "Yeah and said to make you chill out."

Sonic glared slightly at the fox. "And?"

"She's just as bored as you."

"Great!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping slightly and bursting out the door.

"Hey! You could at least say thank you!" Tails called after him.

Sonic reappeared in the door another second later, grinning at Tails. "Thanks Tails!"

**Haha! I finally did another chapter! And it may be short and have a dumb ending, but with that dumb ending I leave myself the already planned out next chapter coming separately! So hooray for planning ahead! Even if the two should've just been conjoined...but this way you don't have to wait all week while I'm off babysitting and don't have time to write! :)**

**Thanks for all your support and patience with me while I was fighting with Preston (my brain monkey who was refusing to tell me what to write) and Writer's Block. Apparently I completely forgot where I was going with this story recently...which explains the absolute plotlessness (which isn't a word; thank you so much for pointing that out, spell checker) of the last two chapters. Despite my rough patch, however, I DO have a plan for the next chapter, which is always nice, and it may be either longer and/or better than these, provided I do not forget it over the week and I don't re encounter my stupid lack of creativity I've been experiencing with this story. It's just not on my mind much anymore, you know? … or not, since _I'm_ the writer after all. **

**Anyway, I must watched Jaws (I'm in a Steven Spielberg obsessed period right now; I might watch ET again...which I haven't done in years :O), it's getting late, my internet is being dumb so I'll have to upload this on my sister's laptop, and I can't sleep until late o'clock tomorrow (quite the contrary; I'll be up by 6 -.-) so I bid thee all farewell! Till next time...**

**Review!**


	20. Chapter 20

**...Okay, I'm terrible. I'm horrible. I don't deserve all you awesome readers and you don't deserve my long rambly author's note. I'll just get straight to my pathetic excuses. **

**Basically, I've become a babysitting monster, watching my neighbors pretty much everyday till school started back and my siblings when I'm not. Ever since then, I've still been watching one out of two afterward from 3 to 6 every weekday and trying to devote weekends to family time, since I apparently don't get to spend as much time with them otherwise. Then there's the whole "Omg! It's the end of summer, so we better go to a different sleepover every night!" game (of sleep deprivation) and friends dragging me around left and right. Then there's my selfish anime OBSESSION to a point where I was watching 10 episodes a day a few weeks ago and now I'm reading the manga online while trying to catch up to my sister in the Tsubasa series. Aside from all that, there's been spontaneous orchestra preparations (since seating auditions are in week now) and other flotsam and jetsam of activites. Then there was our end of summer camping trip the other day and now I have the worst sunburn of my life :( Seriously, my muscles are sore from...well everything so I'm stiff and I can't move anyway without a painful burn D: **

**So just know that while you're all probably mad at me for taking so long to update, I'm seriously sorry to the point where I'm staying up late and writhing in pain just to get this finished now. But you know what, all that said and I'll still give you the right to flame and hate me all you want. But enough of my stupidness; you've waited long enough for the chapter, so here it is:**

Sonic wasted no time rushing over to Amy's house. He arrived in her front yard only moments after leaving, a big grin already on his face. Who knew there were so many beautiful places around here? But the most truly exceptional was definitely none less than perfect. He stood contemplating for a moment, wondering if they should go now and try to catch the sunset or if he should just tell her when to be ready tomorrow and they'd have an entire day there.

"Sonic?" Amy asked and the blue speedster jumped, having not realized she was on her front porch when arrived. "What's up?"

Sonic swiftly moved to the porch beside her, taking a seat on a bench swing she had been on so as not to make her get up. "The sun for now, but that never lasts long," he rolled his eyes in spite of his own sarcasm.

"Hm, ain't that the truth," Amy giggled. "So what brings you here all of a sudden? I haven't seen you all week pretty much."

"Aha, and _that_, my dear Amy, is precisely _why_ I am here. 'Member the bet?"

"Do _I_ remember? I was just starting to think that you'd forgotten about it and I'd get an automatic win. Tomorrow's Friday, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, cheater. You're supposed to remind me ya know!"

"I'm sorry, may I see the rule book please?"

"I'm sorry, may I see your degree in law firm industry, pleeease?" Sonic mocked. Amy bumped his side with her elbow. "So, sunset perfection or a picnic tomorrow and we'll make a day out of it?"

"Hm...well I do like sunsets...but last time it didn't end so perfectly," Amy contemplated, hiding her elation in all but her eyes.

"Okay, we'll go tomorrow! I can be here around 10 and we'll bring lunch."

"You sound awfully sure of yourself. How do I know this isn't just another chili dog stand with new imported sauce or something?"

"You mock me! No worries; I'm pretty sure you'll like it even more than me. And that's saying something, since I thought it was pretty darn awesome...in a...Amy-ish girly way," Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Aww, is Sonikku taking me to a pwetty pwace wif wots of wainbows and uni-cowns?" Amy cooed and Sonic pantomimed gagging.

"If I was, I think we'd both get scared."

"True. Unicorns can be very hostile when threatened by a pot of gold. And have you seen how sharp that horn is? Ugh, just keep your distance." They both laughed at that one.

"I know, right! I mean, no one's even met them, so who's to say they're not aggressive?"

"Forget rhinos! I mean, they can't even fly!" Amy laughed.

"I know, right? That's just unfair. They get the horn, dangerous, the wings, advantageous, and magic...just plain creepy. I foresee future World Domination."

"Unicorns," Amy shuddered and then they both burst into laughter.

"Okay, okay" Sonic started after re-catching his breath. "I should get going before we start discussing the unfair advantages of the Twilight vampires or something."

"Naw, but theirs makes sense!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I'll see you at 10...ish tomorrow?"

"Sure thing! Night Sonic," Amy said with a smile as he stood up to leave.

…

"Oh my..." Amy breathed as they arrived on the spot. "I'm dreaming. I'm totally dreaming this time, so just go ahead and turn into a giant...lollypop or something. I don't know."

Sonic let out a chuckle. "Not a dream, Ames. Sorry, but no giant lollypops today."

"But this is..." she searched for the right words but none came. "Stunning...amazing..."

"Perfect?" Sonic offered.

"Yes. It is definitely perfect."

Sonic smiled and took a seat on the side of a small hill. The hill was atop a cliff that overlooked the coast, where waves lapped lazily along the beach. On the side facing away from the beach, the hill stretched out towards a thick forest, making it very well concealed from normal passers on either side. The real factor that put this spot over the edge, however, was all the beautiful flowers dotting and encircling the field. They all seemed to have gardened themselves to a point where they were separated and arranged in the most lovely way of any man-tended garden.

Rose bushes grew off closer to one side, surrounded by an evenly dispersed array of vines. Morning glories were still in bloom in reach of the forests' shade with a line of Marigolds branching away from them. A few sunflowers stood taller than them near the cliffs edge and countless other wildflowers grew gently into the mix, dotting the hill with color and creating an elegant fragrance coupled with that of the light salty air rising off from the ocean.

Amy stood in awe of the arrangement for a lingering moment. It was breathtaking! Literally. She realized after a moment and drew in a long gulp of air, letting it out slowly in a sigh of content. Sonic reached up and took her hand, gently pulling her to sit beside him on the hill. Within seconds, they were both locked in a comfortable position facing the forest and admiring the pure unhampered beauty of nature at its best.

"This is incredible," Amy whispered, almost afraid to break the silence.

"It really is. And to just think that this place goes unseen by so many people everyday is just..."

"Unreal."

Sonic nodded in agreement. "I found it yesterday and it was hard to walk away so quickly, but I didn't want to ruin the effect before I could show you."

Amy looked up at him with wide, admiring eyes. "You...really wanted to save the experience for...when you were with me?"

Sonic shrugged sheepishly. "Well...I figured that way it could be perfect for both of us at the same time."

Amy's lip wavered a moment before bursting into a huge smile. She practically lunged at him with the death grip of a hug that Sonic had grown quite used to over the years. "Thank you thank you THANK YOU!1! Sonic, this is by far the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me, which is really saying something because you especially have done so many mega-sweet things for me!" she paused to draw in a breath. "But this is my favorite. By far, no contest, and by comparison anything you have left on your perfection list would be, let's face it, insouciant."

Sonic laughed at her eccentricity and tried, in vain, to pry her arms off his waist. Eventually he gave up and just let her hang on as he leaned back on his elbows and relaxed. "Well you're welcome, Ames."

They sat like that a moment, Amy gradually relinquishing her grip to sit back next to him rather than on top of. It couldn't have been a nicer day for an outing such as this. The temperature was perfect and the sun shone brightly above. The sky was more cloudy than blue, but that just left way for a nice breeze to keep the air from getting stiff and warm. Without even realizing it, they laid back to watch the clouds and do nothing but relax and enjoy the day.

Time seemed to pass by slowly as the day drew longer. Amy began making little flower necklaces and Sonic busied himself hunting ladybugs for a while. He made a few attempts on butterflies, but not even he, speedy as he was, could outsmart the winged cheetahs.

The day rolled by like the clouds in the sky and afternoon was upon them in what seemed like no time at all. Sonic looked up and took note of the clouds, which had seemed to grow darker in the past half hour or so. It wasn't supposed to be evening for another few hours...he had to hope it wasn't rain.

"Everything okay?" Amy asked, seeing his contemplative expression.

"Yeah just...I think the clouds look kind of...rainy."

Amy followed his gaze upward and scrutinized the sky carefully. "You may be right. I guess we'll just have to hope it doesn't bother us."

As if on cue, a low rumble of thunder began to arise from the distance, slowly building to a climactic boom. Amy nearly jumped into Sonic's arms in surprise and it finished off with a bang, in a quite literal sense. After that, you could almost watch the sky get darker as the clouds thickened and congealed into a ominous gray bundle. Sonic and Amy watched in wonder, not breaking from their state of captivity until a flash of lightening pierced the sky and brought them back to reality.

"Oh my gosh! We need to pack up the picnic stuff before it starts to-" another clap of thunder cut Amy off just as the bottom dropped out and it began raining very hard very fast.

They both yelled and scrambled to throw everything into the picnic basket and get it packed up. Amy grabbed two corners of their picnic blanket and Sonic took the other two, holding them over their heads in an attempt to take cover from the rain. It was pointless though, so Sonic grabbed her and practically dragged them over to the slight shelter of the trees. Under slightly more covered area, they were able to stuff the now damp blanket into the basket haphazardly and make sure they hadn't left anything behind.

"Well that was fun," Sonic said and they both laughed before another lightening bolt interrupted their little joy fest. "We should get going."

"You don't think we should wait for it to calm down a little?"

Sonic glanced at the sky and shook his head. "It doesn't look like it's going to be calming down anytime soon. We best leave now before it gets even worse."

Amy giggled a little. "Alright, let's get going then."

**Well, there it is. I really wish I could keep writing for now, but at this point my fingers are dragging across the keys and I have to fix like three errors per sentence. I planned on being asleep two hours ago and now I'm getting dizzy from exhaustion, so forgive the length and any mistakes if at all possible.**

**Again, I am SO sorry that I can't even say in words how much I hate myself for not updating :( I would, however, like to welcome DanceDream back to the world of reviewing. Sissy and I have been wondering where you were and it's nice to hear from you again :) For anyone reading Bloopers, that chapter is nearly finished, so it won't be long for another update there. As for this story, I won't make any promises, but I personally am hoping to not take as long to update again, as I know you all are as well. **

**Thank you all for your support on this story and you have this open opportunity to flame if you hate me for the wait. So sorry, guys, but I will try harder this time ;)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Oh yeah! Look at epic me, saying I just want to see how much I'd already written and then end up adding another 2,000 words when I _could've_ been read Catching the Fire (the second Hunger Games book)! Aren't I epic? Well, not really when I should've probably done this like a month ago!**

**Infinite excuses, blah, blah blah. I've started school back and I'm officially a senior! So now My days consist of trying to get as much Physics and Government and Trigonometry crammed into my head before noon. After lunch, I do chores (the endlessly messy house; ugh) and have to work part time later on in the day. Maybe I'd have time to write more often, if it weren't for my hopeless and never ending chain of obsessions. **

**First of all, I'm currently hooked on like a zillion (or three) manga/anime series. I try not to spend too much time on that kinda thing, but CLAMP has me hooked. Plus, the term 'book worm' doesn't even begin to describe me! I'm more of a book leach, since I seem to devour any words set in front of me as quickly as I can...except Government class. I hate Government. -.-**

**Anyway, there's your pathetic excuses and I'm sorry for not sending my usual review replies out; too much to say and so little time. I will add, though, for anyone and everyone who was curious, that whenever I have Cream in this story, I just think Cheese is a given. Not to be rude or anything, but honestly I see him as a very pointless character and it's really no wonder I forget to make his presence prominent throughout the story. Still, I apologize for not mentioning him before now. :(**

**Erg...blah...ramble...CHAPTER! ...enjoy.**

DISCLAIMER: **Hah, and I thought I'd forget it **I do not own Sonic or anything else mentioned in this story, but I do own the plot, so hands off! Jk, lolz XD

Amy looked out her kitchen window to see the rain still hadn't let up. Opening the front door, she sat on the porch a moment to watch the steady drizzle. What was there to do at a time like this? Sonic and Knuckles were hanging out at the workshop, watching a baseball game or something she guessed, and Cream and Vanilla were with the Chaotix. The younger rabbit and Charmy were always good playmates and got along nicely when Vanilla wanted some time to herself or with Vector.

That left Amy stuck at her house alone while the rain persisted.

_But I can't do nothing. _She thought. _That would mean the boredom fairies win, _she paused and sighed aloud. Okay, so boredom fairies were a myth and she knew it...and now it seemed the rain was getting the better of her sanity. _Do something creative! Build a tent inside out of blankets like when you were little! Or...play fortune teller with a teddy bear...except I don't know where one is...oh what the heck!_

Amy stood abruptly and practically stomped into the house, determined not to be caught doing nothing by...well, whatever cloud creature was brewing up this rain storm to make people think there was nothing to do. Yes, that was the reason for this...determination! She used her crutches to hop into the kitchen and opened up an old junk drawer in the china cabinet. Skimming briefly over the contents, and making a mental note to bring a good half of them to the garbage can soon, she dug through and found a small, worn out box.

She smiled to herself, remembering the game from when she was little. She'd get anyone near enough to come into her "Shop of Mysteries" and give them the full on fortune-telling treat. Palm and tea leaf reading, her prized tarot cards, and a makeshift crystal ball she'd designed by putting a fish bowl over a lit candle and staring at the smoke caused by the smothered flame. It was silly and strange, but boredom won over and she decided the nostalgia might be interesting if nothing else.

Once she had a tea pot simmering gently and a candle lit, she spread out the cards and shuffled them with a quick hand. It was a practice she hadn't brought out in awhile but was glad to still posses. Spreading and piling and switching for a moment, Amy got into the mood and was only shocked out of the almost trance by a startling knock on the door.

"Gah!" she exclaimed aloud, nearly falling out of her chair. "C-coming!"

She scooter the seat out and grabbed for her crutches, moving to the front door and taking a quick glance through the peep hole before unlocking it. Sonic stood on the front porch, looking impatient as he glanced out at the deepening rain. She quickly let him in and out of the rain.

"Hey," he said, brushing rain off his arms and stepping inside. "I tried to call, but the power's out. Sorry about that."

"Oh, uh, no problem," Amy said, hoping he wouldn't notice her little setup in the kitchen. "I was just, uh..."

"Oh, am I intruding or anything?"

"No, no! Actually you're just in time; I was on the verge of a boredom-induced mental breakdown."

"Again? Seriously, Ames, we've gotta get you some video games or something."

"Ew, no thanks," she rolled her eyes, leading him to the living room.

"Hey what's that?" Sonic asked, spying her rig in the kitchen and turning off course. Amy mentally face palmed.

"It's uh...nothing."

"No, I mean with the-hey, are those your old tarot cards? I haven't seen them in ages!"

"Ugh. Now you're intruding," Amy groaned, rolling her eyes.

Sonic shrugged. "Give me a reading, oh Mysteries Amy," he pleaded.

"No. I only do fortunes for myself now," she said stubbornly.

Sonic scofferd. "Yeah right! A few years ago, we'd be lucky if we could go a day without getting one of your charms or curses. It all depended on your mood."

"Did not! I can't decide what the cards say!"

"Well then give me a reading right now and we'll just see if it doesn't reflect your mood," Sonic tempted.

"Fine! ...urgh," Amy rolled her eyes, not to keen on having been so easily duped.

"Come on than; I don't have all day to see how my life will end," Sonic said, already sitting at the table. "I'm waaaiiitiiing."

Amy groaned and took her seat in front of the cards. She shuffled through once more and and spread the cards in proper piles across the table. **(Honestly, I don't have any tarot cards and I've never had a reading, so I'm skipping most of this. What is in here is a rough estimate based on a bunch of unhelpful Google look-ups -.-') **

"Hm..." Amy puzzled, flipping over a card. "Major arcana looks good," she paused and flipped another two in a row, taking a moment to ponder the outcome. "That's..."

"What? Do I only have a week to live?" Sonic faked panic.

"No, no. From what I can tell, things will be going just fine for you for awhile now, but...there's something else. Like maybe someone is secretly mad at you? I'm not sure."

"Straange. It's not you though, right?"

"Why would I be mad at you? You've actually been really nice lately," Amy assured him.

"Lately," Sonic chuckled. "I am offended, Miss Rose."

"Maybe someone got ticked off by your ego," she mumbled, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. Hey, it's getting late now, huh?" Sonic glanced at his watch, since the other clocks weren't working due to the power shortage.

"I guess so. It's definitely gotten darker, but that might just be the rain."

"Do you have any more candles? We should light them now before it's too dark to see," Sonic suggested.

"Yeah, I'll get some. Do you need to get back home or something? You can borrow an umbrella or..."

"Naw, Tails said it might be better if I stay over here to make sure you're alright. There was supposed to be a tornado watch for a few hours tonight."

"Yeesh, well you shouldn't be outside anyway than."

Sonic almost laughed. "Oh please! I can outrun AND out spin those things."

"You've tried?"

"...well, no but...hey! I brought dinner!"

"Should I be scared?"

"It's takeout; no worries," Sonic said, taking off a backpack he'd been wearing and pulling out a bag. "The stove wasn't working so Tails sent me to get something for dinner over there. I figured it would be the same situation and got it on the way over."

"Oh cool! I haven't had Chinese in forever," Amy smiled. "And it's still warm; that's nice. I was trying to make tea, but I guess I didn't notice the power was out; I'd better turn off the stove before it comes back. No wonder it was taking so long though," she laughed, hopping over to turn the knob off.

"Hey, shouldn't we have the fortune cookies first? You know, since you were just doing your fortune telling thing?"

"What does that have to do with anything? You'll still get another prediction whether it's now or later."

"Phooey," Sonic muttered.

After lighting a few more candles to brighten up the room, they sat down and started eating. It was still fairly early, but neither wanted to wait for it to get cold, since there was no way of reheating anything without the power on. By the time they had finished, it was only about 6.

"Fortune cookies now?" Sonic asked.

"You're just anxious because it has the word 'cookie' in it. They're not even real cookies you know."

"Don't say that! They'll hear you and give you a bad fortune!" Sonic exclaimed and Amy rolled her eyes, picking up a cookie and breaking it in half.

"Dang; it's hard to read in this light. Okay, mine says...'Be wary of your footing. Often a small step can cause a great fall'." she gave a laugh. "I couldn't have gotten this a few weeks ago?"

"Maybe it's trying to warn you so you don't break something else. Like your arm or another leg or something!"

"I feel so enlightened. Now whats yours say?"

Sonic broke his open and pulled out the slip of paper, holding it just close enough to a candle to see it without it catching fire. "'Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can break a heart. Choose them wisely'."

"They dead pinned you!"

"Hey! I always think before I talk!" Sonic said, paused for a moment and then they both started laughing. "Okay, so there's no filter between my brain and my mouth, but whatever. I wouldn't say something to genuinely hurt someone."

"Even if you thought it?"

"No, since I normally don't criticize people in my head. What are you saying, Amy? That you're a mental-hater?"

"I never said that!"

"You implied it though," he teased.

"Did not! I asked if _you_ did! And not even that. I was just saying..."

"Eh, whatever. Honestly I'd rather hurt someone's feelings than break two legs."

"I'm not going to break ANOTHER leg!" Amy exclaimed and quickly added when Sonic began to speak, "Or an arm."

"Whatever. Just watch your step," he warned.

"And you watch your mouth."

"Geez, you sound like my mother," he rolled his eyes.

"Do I need to shove some soap down your throat?" she said in a nasally impersonation. They both let out long laughs before continuing to actually consume the cookies.

"So what? You're gonna stay the night here?" Amy inquired.

Sonic shrugged and did a mega pouting face. "Oh, I wouldn't want to _intrude_."

"I'm sure you wouldn't. Would you prefer the couch, floor, or bed?"

"Let's go camping!"

Amy blinked and tried to register his exclamation. "You were serious? Did you not actually just come here to bring news of a possible tornado in the area?"

"No no, not outside, crazy! I meant on the floor, both of us. We can set up a tent and tell ghost stories and everything!" Sonic began excitedly. "It'll be fun!"

"And roast marshmallows over a candle?" Amy added sarcastically.

"Oh, can we?!"

"I was kidding! Who would want a wax flavored s'more anyway?"

"Don't knock it till you try it," Sonic shrugged before pulling her along to the living room. "C'mon!"

After a few minutes of planning, Sonic retrieved a stack of blankets from Amy's hall closet and they started carefully constructing their indoor fortress. It was slow going, trying to find just the right tactic to making the blankets stay in place and they had to start over several times when one part would collapse and ruin the structure of the whole tent.

Finally, they had built a castle of blankets fit for a king! ...In theory. As long as said king didn't mind crawling on his stomach to get in and then having to keep his head low if he wanted to sit up. There was also the potential threat of a cave in at any given moment and...well, you'd need a very indifferent king for it to work well.

"It's beautiful! All hail our royal fortress!" Amy laughed as they took a step back to admire it.

"Royal? What kind of king would stay in this thing?"

"A very indifferent one," Amy giggled. Sonic gave a laugh as well before they both crawled inside and tried to situate the sleeping bags laid out on the floor. Once they had both found comfortable positions that suited their needs for the night, Sonic didn't hesitate another second to pull out a flashlight and hold it under his chin for dramatic lighting.

"Once, there was a _lawnmower!..._With legs!"

"No, no, no! We will not do that again!" Amy scolded, snatching the flashlight from him. "If we're not even going to tell them properly then what's the point of telling bad ones?"

"What do you mean, 'not tell them _properly_'?" Sonic mimicked poorly.

"Oh there's a whole ritual! I saw it in this manga where-"

"I don't need the details," Sonic stopped her, hoping to avoid a XXXholoic reference and save the author of this fanfiction a much longer disclaimer...that she always seems to forget anyway. :/

"But anyway, you should at least _try_ to be scary."

"Oh, _I_ should? Give me a break, Ames! You couldn't scare Cream on Holloween."

"You're right, because she's too sweet to scare. You on the other hand, I don't mind so much."

"Alright, let's here it then," Sonic leaned back in a relaxed position.

"Are you sure about that?" Amy put on a devious smirk and Sonic nodded casually. "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Sonic scoffed. "Warn me about _what_?"

"Exactly."

"What?"

"That's the one."

"The...what?!" Now he seemed genuinely confused.

"Not the _what?_ THE What."

"...I don't get it."

"Let's hope you don't, because the What was a horrible epidemic that swept through the lands many years ago."

"So, what, like a plague?"

"Oh no! Not that kind of epidemic! The What was much more...unique. That's why it got so many people; it took a while for anyone to realize how out of the ordinary everything was and by then...it was too late to save anyone.

"It was kind of like...nanobots. Only not electronic; that kind of technology wasn't around back then of course. But What it was...it was almost as thin as a gas and all you had to do was walk through it, inhale its vapors, and...well, that's about it. Anyone you were near became infected, by breathing in traces of the What you exhaled, and they passed it on to the people they were near."

"How did the What get started?" Sonic asked, slowly becoming entranced by her story. Amy hid her pleasure well with a mask of mischief, almost pleasure as she began to spin her story's web out before them.

"It was a regular day. No dark stormy night or ominous clouds as a tell for anything strange. Maybe that's why little Sue-Ellen showed no reluctance when her mother sent her out to pick some apples. See, Sue-Ellen's town was surrounded on all sides by a dense forest, so they were all well-fed by its many fruits and herbs. It was nothing out of the ordinary for a parent to send their child in; no more different than a trip to the grocery store for us."

"Sue-Ellen was a dangerously curious girl, though. Every time she was sent to the woods, she found herself wandering farther and farther off the path or away from the town. This time, however, she got a little too far and wasn't able to find her way back. Lost in the woods, with night descending quickly, little Sue-Ellen decided to find a place to stay for the night, until light came back to the forest and she could find her way home.

"The girl was grateful to quickly find an unoccupied cave that could offer sufficient shelter from the cruel forest at night. However, her curiosity won out again and she found herself wandering deeper and deeper inside. About a hundred yards into it, lighting her way with one of the candles her mother had provided, she found the writing on the walls:

"_'Beware the-'_..." Amy broke off and Sonic leaned in with anticipation.

"Beware the what?"

"Exactly her words. What was she to beware of? Sue-Ellen brushed madly at the cave wall, trying to uncover the rest of a message that wasn't even there. After a few minutes of brushing and dusting at the ancient rocks, they began to crumble under her finger. She dug away into a hollowed out sort of room...where she found the skeletal form of the one who had written the message.

"Sue-Ellen rushed from the cave, screaming into the night, until she came smack into on of the men from her town. His face flooded with relief as he found her in a thin beam of light and he called out to a search party that had all been looking for her.

"They brought the hysterical girl back home, where her mother was able to piece together the story and coax her into calming down. After a while of consideration, they dubbed her story a tall tail the product of Sue-Ellen's hyperactive imagination. That night was all but forgotten...until they began to notice the changes."

"What kind of changes?" Sonic urged.

"At first it was just little things. Sue-Ellen beginning to grow more tired or despondent at times. Nothing that worried them. But as the child grew paler and seemed to be dwindling into nonexistence, the town became more and more concerned. Others began showing similar symptoms and, by the time they had called in doctors from the city, they were all but zombies.

"With no found cure and no way to examine the condition without catching it for themselves, the doctors were forced to isolate the town; no one allowed in, and no one allowed out. Without the townspeople's' acknowledgment, a dome was built around them and their woods, where they'd forever remain to live out their existence as half people of the What.

"Their brains became useless and their bodies half decomposed as they wandered aimlessly around the ghost town that was once so lively. Once their home. Now it sits unoccupied in ruins, never to be disturbed other than the wind, whispering by with its eternal question. 'The What?'..."

**Boo! **

**Oooooo, who'd I scare?! Perfect bedtime story, eh guys? Again, sorry for the delay and my lack of replies, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter none the less. At least the word count was a tad higher, huh? I'll try to update sooner and thanks for all your support and reassurance that I am, in fact, doing something right with this story :) Thanks to all,**

**Goodnight! Zzz *u* zzZ**


	22. Chapter 22

**Helloooooo people! Jeez, I'm SO late on this! So sorry everyone, but, as you know, even authors have a life outside of our stories and mine just happened to get crammed into overdrive the last few days! Just trying to juggle school, household responsibilities, plus a part time job; it doesn't leave all too much time for freedom writing :/ But here I am again! Trying to wrap up this story soon enough so I don't loose interest or drop down to a zero on my writing time.**

**This chapter, admittedly, is leaning towards the short side, but there's a lot of progress in it. Plus it's probably going to be the second to last chapter anyway and I didn't want to double it with the next; that would be evil! So here's your short chapter to tide you all over for a while until I can get this thing under wraps. Thanks so much for all my awesome readers and reviewers! :) **

Days crept along past. They seemed to pull and stretch like taffy, each sticking to you for what seemed like the longest yet, but then so short when you looked back at the end of each one. Time passed. The days piled up to form weeks and even those somehow accumulated over enough time. Mid summer had hit everyone hard and before Amy even realized it, she was going in for one of her last scheduled Mondays at Tails's workshop. Just one more week and she'd be out of that stupid cast.

Sonic had done well on his side of the bet, showing her at least one thing perfect every week. Whether it be a big beautiful scenery or just a moment of bliss, perfection began to appear in many different places and forms. Beauty existed everywhere and the harsh corners reality that we all perceive normally began to smooth over and create a much better picture. Amy found herself noticing much more perfection in the world than before.

"I never really saw myself as the 'glass half empty' type before," she told Cream one day, "but spending more time with Sonic and really looking at how perfect the world is without us even noticing...it makes me realize there was a lot I was missing out on before."

Well, now she was in her cast for the final week. Tails had her leg set straight, as planned, so it would've been hard, if possible, to avoid walking all together. Instead, Amy had to either penguin walk with the help of the crutches, now only useful at keeping her balance, or keep her leg slightly extended outward as she moved. It was Wednesday and Sonic had gone to meet her, trying to think of one final perfection to really blow all the others away.

He knew for a fact that it would have to be extraordinary, since this was his last official week with her on the bet, but what sort of thing thing could merit such an enormous honor? Not just anything, that was for sure! He had a few in mind, but none fitting of this responsibility. Mostly what he had thought of so far would only come into play if, heaven forbid, Sunday snuck up without giving them a chance for the _real_ perfection champion and he needed a backup.

"Hey Sonic," Amy opened the door with a smile, trying to balance with as little awkwardness as she could manage.

"Hiya, Penbo. How's the ice surfing been?" Sonic teased, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Oh, you're just jealous."

"Of...what exactly?"

"That by the time I get this cast off I'll be better than leg lifts than even you," Amy smirked and Sonic rolled his eyes.

"I think a few hundred miles a day may be a matching workout to walking."

"Walking on one foot with an extra five pounds around your knee and having to hold said knee up more often than not."

"We'll just see when your cripple stage is over," Sonic compromised. Amy scoffed.

"Whatever. Any plans for today or were you just gonna bug me until I suggested something?"

"Hm...Wednesday...well it's not excruciatingly hot today; that gives a few extra possibilities."

"Either way, come in for a bit until we can think of something," she insisted.

Five minutes later, they were both sprawled as far across their respective quadrants of the living room as either could stretch. Amy laid on the floor with her bad leg sticking straight up, propped against the coffee table for support. Sonic was half on the couch with his back hanging down over the side and head on the floor. They did nothing of importance, only the occasional groaning contest, as both worked their brains for traces of an idea.

"Wednesday," Sonic said pointlessly.

"Mid-week," Amy renamed.

"Hump day," Sonic continued, but Amy stopped him there.

"Hump day?"

"Yeah. You know, Wednesday...Hump Day?"

"Like...on a camel or something?"

"Yeah! You've never heard that one?"

"Nu-uh."

"Seriously? You know, people say 'if you just get past the hump, the week sails on by'."

"Who says _that?!_"

"I don't know...they?"

"That's weird."

"No! Just think of the week like a hill or something! Sunday is nice and relaxed, Monday is a steep incline, Tuesday you're still just trying to get up the hill, Wednesday if you get past that _hump_ you'll just be riding down the hill until Saturday. Then it just starts over again."

"I think you're seriously insane. I mean, I can _kind of_ almost see it vaguely...ish."

"Oh gosh! I can't believe you've never heard that before!"

"Well it's _apparently_ not an oh so typical expression!" Amy defended.

"Ugh. Come on; I know where we should go."

"Where?"

"Just come on," Sonic insisted, pulling her to her feet...or rather foot.

After a slightly uncomfortable, but at least quick, trip, they ended up at the park close to Amy's house. Sonic set Amy down near a picnic table near the edge of some trees to let her catch her balance.

"So why are we here again?" she asked, adjusting her leg in front of her.

"We're going over a week. Physically instead of mentally now."

"What, just walking over a hill you mean? I got what you meant when you explained, you know."

"Yeah, but you're awesomely powerful leg didn't," he teased.

"Oh shut up!" Amy glared to hide a slight blush.

"Okay. Let's go over the week."

"Are you seriously going to start calling hills 'week's now? Because that would actually be pretty hilarious. Like, 'hey Knuckles! I'll race you up the week!', or 'What a pretty house up on that week.' or whatever."

"You know, I may just do that," Sonic smiled at the idea and Amy rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Let's not take all week here," Amy punned.

"Oh the hilarity. Wherever did you come up with that?"

"Oh quit your monotone; it's already Monday."

And with that, they both started walking up the steep hill. With her crutches and stiff leg, Amy took a few steps to even situate her walking style, whereas Sonic walked backwards to watch her as they went, not wanting to just zip over and leave her behind. After a few minutes, the weight of gravity really started to feel prominent

"Almost past Tuesday; now if we could just make it over this _hump_ we'd be-" Sonic started but was cut off by an exasperated Amy.

"I get it! Hump day, whoo-hoo!"

"Now you've got it!" he practically leaped with joy, taking a careless moment to speed up the hill ahead of her.

"Sonic!" she called after him. "Wait up, would you? Hmph."

"Come on, Ames! The week is almost over!"

"I'm just trying not to _re_ injure my leg," she defended, somewhat annoyed.

When she got to the top, she practically collapsed on the ground to catch her breath. Sonic crouched down to her level.

"You okay?"

Amy took a moment to compose herself. "Yeah just...I really hate having to admit it, but, even with the cast about to come off, I'm just no good with physical stuff still. It's not like I'm _trying_ to, but this is just the kind of thing you don't really get used to, at least not for a long time."

"I'm sorry; this is my fault," Sonic sighed, a wave of guilt sweeping over him and a defeated look in his eye. "I shouldn't just expect you to come right out and say it; I should know what would be too hard for now. I'm really sorry, Amy."

"I'm fine and all; I just need a second before we head down the 'week'," she assured him, slightly confused by the torn up look in his eyes.

"Yeah but you shouldn't have to deal with this in the first place! It's my fault you're in that stupid cast and-"

"Hold up," Amy cut in, "you-you're fault? What would make you..."

The mood shifted and Sonic tried to keep his face from giving tells to the 'oh no I just spoiled something very important' expression. "I uh..."

"You really...think it's you're fault?" Amy asked cautiously.

"Amy, I-"

"No, just stop! Here I was thinking that, for some stupid reason, you actually wanted to _willingly_ spend time with me and...and it's just that you felt guilty...all along."

"Amy, no! It's not like that!"

"Then what is it like, Sonic?! Because that sure is what it looks like to me!"

A short moment of silence passed and Amy got back up on her crutches, getting her balance and starting down the hill at as brisk a pace as she could manage. "Amy, wait!" Sonic took a step after her but the accusation in her tone stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm done waiting. I just...don't bother."

**Oooh, evil cliffie chappie! So sorry, again, for my delay and I hope to hear from you all about this chapter. Thoughts, opinions, ideas, likes, dislikes, and what you all wanna see happen in the end. Probably Sonamy, but still thought I ought to ask. In fact, I'll try to incorporate any (reasonable) suggestions I get! Seriously, give my some crazy little blips (Ex. Cherry sandwich) and I'll just throw as many in there as background details as I can. Okay, it's a lame idea, but I've always taken advantage when I see an author offering up something like that, so maybe some of you readers are the same? Idk, but I'd love to find out!**

**Love you all so much and I hate to see this story coming to an end, but it had to happen some time, you know? Oh! One final detail (irrelevant to the story), anyone following Sonic X Bloopers (my co-authored story with my sister) we have NOT abandoned it! We'll have an update out sometime within the next week or so, but the chapter hasn't technically been...eh, "started", per se, so I can't give more specifics than "soonish". **

**Okay, thank you all for reading this far! Until next (and last D:) time,**

**-TTG-OS :)**


	23. The End

**AHHH!1!1! HOW DID I TAKE THIS LONG TO UPDATE?! **

**Okay, nice to see you all again and, to answer all of your questions right now, yes, this is the last chapter. No, I am not dead nor did I abandon this story. Also, the author's note is at the beginning just because I don't want to ruin the whole epic reviewing tone I left with at the end here. I did not forget about you all and I have been trying to get this out here. **

**I know you're all anxious to get on with the story- I mean, my cliff hanger was just evil...I know- but I do have some very important things to say before you do. First of all, and I know some of you are angry and don't want to hear any of my excuses, but I feel obligated to include my very viable reasoning for close to dropping this story out of existence for over two months now.**

**November. Ah yes. I'd have to say that this was- God only knows how- my favorite month of the year. This past November (2012) I, for my first time, participated in a global program called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in which writers are encouraged to write an entire novel (with a goal of 50,000 words) in just a month's time. There is no editing allowed during the time you write it, as the main goal is to get it done plot wise, plus you have another 11 months for that later on.**

**I am pleased to inform you all of the fanfiction community that I won the program (not like first place or something; they don't do awards. When I say "won" I simply mean "completed".) both plot wise and word count wise. On the night of November 30th at 11:59 and 54 seconds, I wrote the last sentence of my raw, unedited novel, leaving me with approximately six seconds to spare in the month! XD**

**I reached over 65,000 words and I believe 89 pages on my computer, over 200 pages in book print size, and this is pre-edited, meaning it will only get longer once it's truly finished. This is a major accomplishment for me, especially provided that it did not hinder my abilities to complete school, chores, and my part time job every single day of the month (not to mention Thanksgiving cooking). **

**As for December, I've been putting off a lot of things that happened to be reminders of my writing frenzy last month in order to lessen the pain of my crash and burn...though still not by much. I haven't opened my novel document since the 1st and I've completely sworn off coffee or caffeine of any sort for the entire month to make up for the extra 70 percent I had last month. That's one reason I've waited this long in the month to update this for my final chapter.**

**December has also been fully packed with holiday shopping, high school cramming, and LOTS of baking! I have, however, made some great accomplishments this month as well. I completed all of the remaining academic credits required for my high school graduation so I can take the spring semester and all of next year for independent study before starting in an actual college. Also, I stuck with my goal of baking a new holiday treat EVERY SINGLE DAY leading up to Christmas this month...we have a lot of cookies. Still... 8O**

**So yes. I am extremely sorry for your wait and even more so for making you sit through my high achievement ramblings for...what is this, the eighth paragraph?! But I am so grateful for all of my supportive readers who have stuck it out with me through the good and bad to help come out and support this story! It's you guys that kept me going this long and I really hope my grand finale is not one to disappoint!**

**Happy New Year and thank goodness the world didn't end before I got this up! Also, if any of you are disappointed about this being the end, try to remember that I posted it on New Years Eve for a good metaphorical reason. Though it may seem like the end of a wonderful year, or in this case story, just keep in mind that there's more just ahead. Whether the rest is right there given to you or up to you to make for yourself, don't ever forget that ends are just new beginnings!**

**Carpe diem (seize the day) my lovely readers!**

**...or rather occupare fabula (seize the story)**

**Enjoy! :D**

Amy waved down one of the town's scarce taxis and got a ride home, trying to remain void of emotion at least until she was in the comfort of her own home. As soon as she got there, she closed and locked the door behind her, sliding to the floor with her back against the wall. She remained still and silent for a moment, trying to let the preceding events sink in slowly. Unfortunately, reality was not in her favor at the moment and the slow intake of events turned more into everything slapping her in the face until she final let the thoughts settle into place.

"It's true," she whispered to herself. "He really doesn't care. It's just his stupid protective nature that makes him feel _obligated_ to spend time with me! I should've known! I'm just so stupid for thinking-aagh!"

She stopped talking to herself and allowed the tears brimming her eyes to slide down her face. How could she have been so naive? It was true she had been suspicious, but figured, if anything to do with her leg, it was just to compensate for their missed time together when she would chase him for hours on end every day. How could she have not even realized the possibility that it was only to make up for the guilt he felt thinking it was his fault?

Amy took a deep, shaky breath, trying to calm herself down. Though the tears seemed hesitant to stop, she was at least able to get control over her mentality.

"So what?" she forced a fake laugh, which sounded slightly psychotic. "He doesn't love me. That changes nothing but the fact I wasn't sure. Now," she swallowed the lump in her throat and faced the fact staring her in the face, "at least I can just...give up."

This brought on a fresh wave of tears and she gave in, letting herself have at least a few minutes of self satisfaction at the form of emotional release. Sometimes it's better to just let everything built up out at once. Otherwise it could crush you from the inside out.

…

Sonic stood frozen in place, his mind racing faster than even his own two feet had ever gone.

_Did she just..._

_No, she can't think that I-_

_But she said that-!_

Then another thought hit hard enough to knock the others away, if only for a moment.

_What now?_

What should he do now? Go after her? What would he say? What should he do to make it up to her? What if he couldn't? What if she-

"Oh for goodness sake!" A slightly dreary, deep voice interrupted his train of thoughts. "Why would you get so worked up over something so...idiotic?"

"Shadow!" Sonic jumped back a step, surprised by the presence of his darker equal. "W-what are you-"

"Are you unaware you were standing on a hill talking to yourself about your own anserine blunder? Because I was fairly certain you'd begin to attract a crowd if I didn't intervene." Shadow sighed in slight exasperation.

"Out loud?" the words seemed to drift over Sonic's head before he shook off his confusion and caught on. "Oh, great! So now I'm an idiot _and_ a lunatic?!"

"It would seem so, wouldn't it?"

"Well...what am I supposed to do then?" Sonic asked.

Shadow just narrowly resisted the urge to face palm. "What kind of a question is that? You've practically got all the answers laid out in front of you! Honestly, I don't see why you're so stubborn," he sighed.

"What are you talking about?"

Shadow tried to turn his growl into a groan, not in the mood to pick a fight with the delusional weirdo. "Everything. You've been given a perfect opportunity for happiness but you take it all for granted! She's _obviously _liked you all along, we all know that and don't even bother playing dumb about it. And the fact that your feelings are anywhere _near_ mutual just makes it ridiculous you haven't played upon your advances. Honestly, if anyone else in the _universe_ were given such a perfect opportunity they wouldn't hesitate to jump on it!" Shadow took a deep breath to calm himself. "I just mean that if you want to keep this chance in the first place, now may be you last moment to act on it."

Sonic took a moment to think this over. "You're right. I never thought I'd say this, but thanks Shadow. You're a really great help."

"Don't get used to it," Shadow said passively. "Guess I'll leave you to it then." And with that he disappeared...or, walked away in a really cool way that practically made him disappear into the shade of the trees. **(Sorry, I'm kind of the obsessed fangirly type when it comes to Shadow :3...or Ikuto, Fai, Sebastian, more than half the Hetalia crew, eh, pretty much any anime guy :/ But so not my fault! They're hot!)**

…

"Knock knock! Can I come in? Oh wait, I already am," Knuckles announced, stepping into Amy's house. "Amy? You home? The door was unlocked so I-oh jeez!" he found her in the living room, desperately trying to dry the tears staining her face.

"I-I'm sorry," she breathed, trying to compose herself.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, big brother mode taking over his usual jaunty sarcasm.

"No I-I'm fine. Really, it's just-" she sniffled and Knuckles practically leaped onto the couch.

"Amy! Come on; just tell me what's wrong?" she bit her lip, trying to keep from breaking down again. "Okay, it's not your leg, right? It was some_one_, not thing, right?"

Amy managed a nod and whimpered slightly. "Knuckles, please don't-"

"It was Sonic, wasn't it? Did he make you this upset, Amy?"

"It's not his fault! He just doesn't-doesn't l-love me the s-same way a-a-as I do," she choked in an all too vulnerable voice.

"Dang it! Why is he such a-"

"Knuckles!" she cut him off, trying to hold back a fresh wave of tears. "It's not his fault!"

"Yes it is! I mean he can't just-"

"Just what? Just be himself? Because he has the full right to do that! I just can't...I can't expect him to change that f-for me. It's just...I'm sorry," she cried and Knuckles put a comforting arm around her.

"Don't be sorry about it; take a deep breath and calm yourself down. Let's get you relaxed a little and then maybe you can tell me what happened."

After a few minutes to let her catch her breath and calm her nerves, Amy told Knuckles what had happened. He took a thoughtful moment of silence before allowing himself to voice a "hm".

"I guess...looking back it shouldn't have been such a big deal and all but...I guess it just really got to me when I realized it all at once like that, you know?"

"Yeah, I can imagine that." Knuckles pondered. He had to bite his lip from spilling how Sonic felt about her. But this was something the speedster had to do for himself.

"Knuckles?" Amy asked and the echidna turned to her. "Just...thanks. I'm glad you're always here for me in times like this...even if it may make you feel like the gay best friend sometimes. But thanks for putting up with me, I mean."

"No problem...except the gay best friend part. Let's just say 'big brother' to save some awkwardness."

Amy giggled a little. "Yeah, that's a safer choice of words."

…

"Okay. I'm really going to do this. I'm going to apologize to Amy...and tell her...how I feel about her. I won't overdo it, I won't chicken out of it. Just me and her. No special meadow or flowers and chocolate. Simple and pure and..." Sonic stopped mid sentence and cracked a tiny smile. "Perfect."

Sonic started heading towards Amy's house, beginning at a slow pace just while he got out of the park before quickening to his usual run. He considered stopping by to thank Shadow for his oddly unfitting advice but shied away from the attempt as he caught, in his peripheral vision, the ebony hedgehog tossing what looked like either small marshmallows, Styrofoam packaging peanuts, or perhaps a mixture of the two to small birds and squirrels. Not even _wanting_ to know what that was about, Sonic shook his head and moved on, hoping now that he wouldn't even be noticed.

Once out of the littering of pedestrians in the park, he quickened his pace, breaking into a full out dash. _Do it now before you lose your nerve_ he told himself repetitiously in his head. _Nothing could sway my focus or determination now! Not even-hey is that Knuckles?_ Sonic had no further time to analyze the situation before he found himself colliding with a fist...and then with a tree.

"Ow! What the heck was-Knuckles?!" he stood up, a hand going automatically to his sore jaw, and took in the annoyed red echidna standing in front of him.

"Well you _totally_ deserved it!" Knuckles yelled, obviously mad.

"Oh great! What did I do this time?"

"Why don't you ask Amy?" that caught the speedster off guard. "You know I just had a nice little talk with her...if you can call it talking when she was crying more than half the time."

"She's what? I mean I...I knew that...but I...she's crying?" he felt defeated.

"Well, not _now_, but she was. And I wonder who is capable of that sort of thing?"

"Knuckles, seriously, I had no idea she was that upset but-"

"But nothing! You've caused her so much heartbreak, you know that? I wonder what she sees in you all the time because you sure don't seem worth all the trouble she's gone through just to like you!"

"I know! I'm _so_ not worth it but I-"

"But nothing! You owe her big! An apology, a confession, and a whole lot more after that!"

"That's what I'm trying to do right now!"

"Honestly, I don't even know why-wait, say what?"

"Yes! Right now! Or right then, before you just about took my jaw out of my head! I was on my way to apologize and tell her everything and I could've been there by now if you hadn't stopped me!"

"Oh. You were...what?"

"Going to make it up to her."

"Hm...well...you, uh...better."

"Good advice. You're a hopeless romantic, my friend." Sonic rolled his eyes and was about to take off again.

"Hey, Sonic," Knuckles stopped him. "Uh...good luck."

Sonic smiled at the almost friendly wish. "Thanks, Knux." And then he sped away before receiving another face full of knuckle sandwich for the echidna's "favorite" nick-name.

By the time he halted himself in Amy's front yard, the sun was starting to set. The sky had just began to darken on the beautiful day and the few clouds that littered the sky had just the beginning shades of orange and pink. Sonic smiled in spite of the perfect timing and remembered her admitting straight out her weakness for sunsets. The scene couldn't get any more perfect, which would be very good in his favor.

He took a deep breath and decided that waiting another second would surely make him lose this almost confident feeling. He practically leapt onto the porch and banged the door three times. He took a big gulp to swallow the lump in his throat and waited for the door to open.

...and waited. And waited. Finally, Sonic realized he'd been standing on the porch for hours, or the speedster equivalent of at least three minutes, with no sign of it being answered. He knocked harder, this time calling out Amy's name.

"Amy? Please open the door. I know you really don't want to see me right now but I _really_ need to talk to you!"

No response. Sonic took another long breath and mentally sent her an apology as he turned the door knob to let himself in. Surprisingly, he found the door unlocked, completely unlike the normal behavior for Amy. He called out her name while stepping into the house but saw no sign of her. He was about to do a quick zip through the house for a search when he stopped in his tracks. Laying on the floor in front of him was one of Amy's crutches, left abandoned and alone.

A haunted air seemed to fall over him and the house alike upon seeing this ominous foreshadowing. He could already feel what seemed like an unwanted presence creeping in and separating him from Amy and his confession. Sonic clenched and unclenched a fist, trying to shake off what felt like a thousand icy hands wrenching horrible worst case scenarios out of his mind and into the open air like ghosts of the future to come.

"Amy?" Sonic called again, now unnerved a little. "Amy, please at least let me know you're here. This is really important!" Without another second to spare, Sonic took off through the house, not even getting farther than the top step before his search for the female was cut remarkably short.

A gaping hole sat in the back wall, throwing his heart into a wildly pounding drum. Sonic stopped, eyes wide as he observed the scene from a distance of only a few feet away. Just to confirm what he already knew, Amy's second crutch lay dangling half out the side of the house alone with a few piko piko sized dents in the remaining wall and some screws or chips of metal plates scattered about.

"Oh no. This time you've gone too far, Eggman," Sonic muttered angrily, not wasting another second to take in or calculate the situation. He relied on pure instinct alone to guide him after the evil genius and took off to correct what he could only call his own fateful blunder. "I hope you'll forgive me, Amy, because there's no way I ever will."

…

"Egghead, can you not EVER cut a girl a break?!" Amy screamed, knowing the scientist wasn't even around to hear her. Instead, she was in the lower deck of his ship this time, locked in a small cell without even the maniac's evil gloating smirk to take her emotions out on. "Sonic won't even be coming for me today! Did you hear me?! IT'S POINTLESS!" she screamed, breaking herself down into tears and crumpling to the floor.

"Ah, but you don't know the situation as I do, my dear," Eggman's voice broke the silence around her tears as he appeared on a monitor across the hallway. "You see, things will work out in my favor either way, be you right or wrong."

"What the heck are you talking about?!" she huffed.

"Well, if Sonic does come right away then so be it, as this is what could be expected under normal circumstances anyway. On the contrary, if he were to, for some reason, not learn or act upon your captivity for a period of time, that would only weaken his defenses on the grounds of guilt for not coming to your immediate rescue."

"You're wrong you know," Amy scowled, crossing her arms and turning her back to the camera. "Sonic doesn't care anymore and frankly neither do I. You could just keep me here forever as far as I'm concerned. I can no longer be associated with that-...him."

"Ooh, nasty breakup I take it?" he pried, to which Amy just gave another huff and pulled her legs to her chest, refusing to be dragged any further into this. "Who is it, do you believe that took the worse side of this dispute? Oh forget that; it's really not a question worth asking, is it?"

"Just go...blow something up. I don't care to talk to anyone right now, especially you."

"Oh come on, you can give me all the dirty little details, right! Give him a good verbal bashing; get it out of your system for your own health, why don't you? It's not healthy to-"

"Shut up!" Amy yelled. "I really don't need this today, okay?! Just...just leave me alone." And with that, Eggman gave a sigh and reluctantly cut the transmission. "Silver lining..." Amy pondered a moment. "Yeah. Captivity works as an escape, right?" she scoffed and almost laughed a little at how messed up her life had become.

Meanwhile, Sonic had spent hardly any time at all to locate the doctor's ship, which hadn't even gotten very far in the few short minutes since Amy's abduction. Boarding the ship, as usual, was a breeze with his incredible jumping skills and then it was only a matter of seconds before he located the doctor in his control room. Strangely enough, however, there was no Amy in sight within his room. Sonic was just entering the room to confront the doctor when his next step forward shot a spike of electricity up the leg he had just moved forward.

"Sonic! How very nice to see you! Oh please, have a _seat!_" The doctor said, banging a button that had a pair of mechanical arms reach up and grab his legs and throw him into a seat in the corner. A cliché brace coiled out of the chair and immediately strapped him in.

Sonic struggled for a moment before finding it pointless and sitting back to face Eggman with an annoyed smirk. "Nice to see you too. Sure has been a while and I'd love to catch up, but today really isn't the best day for me. How's next week?"

"Oh ho ho! Always the comical genius, aren't we?" he cackled.

"I try," Sonic shrugged.

"Yes, well trying is the best you really can do now isn't it?"

"Well there's also success, of course. That, my winning heroics and even winning-er smile!" Sonic cracked a grin for the metaphorical camera.

"Too bad all those poor unknowing citizens can't _see_ the bad mouth brat behind that smile."

"Yeah, and speaking of bad mouths, why don't you just go suck some sauerkraut to mask the bad breath of yours, doctor?"

The doctor growled. "Alright, rodent, cut the banter and let's get on with the show."

"Gee, thanks doc."

"Oh think nothing of it. And since your own off mood puts me in such a good one, I think I'll tell you my entire plan straight through, and even throw in a resolution to boot."

"Is it Christmas already? I'm so excited!" Sonic put on an elated smirk over his regular smarmy one.

"Well, for one of us at least. Your precious Amy, as of whereabouts, is in the lower deck's prison room, I'm sure you're familiar to the location."

"Like a home away from home," Sonic confirmed with a nod, suspicious of his willingness to hand over his plan with no catches whatsoever.

"As for my oh so diabolical plan, nothing falls too out of the ordinary. Just another defenseless little town of eastern Mobius- which happens to hold a very important technological research center I'm sure you've heard of from your two tailed friend, just thought I'd add- that happens to be right in the way of one of my largest missile attacks in a good few years. Poor things will be blown sky high before they even know what's going on. All you really have to do to prevent this, however, is press this little green button right here as soon as I release you."

"_Right._ Because you'll do that, won't you? Just release me to press a button and walk away with my girl all happy go lucky and free as a hedgehog. And what's that catch, Eggy?"

"Heh, of course you're quick enough to pick up on that; wouldn't expect anything less, naturally. Well you see, Sonic, life has a way of forcing difficult decisions on us all from time to time, such as choosing between a loved one or a cherished many. In other words, you can't have both of the things you desire.

"To put it simply, the moment you free the girl from her incarcerations, done by pressing a pretty clearly marked button just outside her cell, the missiles will automatically be triggered for a launch attack. Likewise, as soon as you press the button to detain the missiles for good, Amy will be transported to my newest secret ground base, completely off the grid of any radars or trackers on the planet, wherein I will have her free to my own use with nothing you can do to save her."

"Y-you're bluffing," Sonic tried to keep a straight face.

"Oh, but I'm afraid I'm not. So, what's it going to be, Sonic?" Eggman said, pressing a release button on his chair. "Oh! And two more things before you take another step. First of all, the image of me you see is merely a hologram; the real me is already in that secret location I mentioned so you can't do me any harm. Second, you only have about five minutes to make your choice," the doctor sniggered and the hologram fizzled out of sight. "Good luck."

"Oh no," Sonic muttered to himself, a million loop holes or possibility zipping through his mind faster than his feet could ever move. None of them even close to viable. Mental solutions, even he could admit, were not his forte, so without another moment of thought, he whizzed to the lower deck to confront Amy quickly before making any final choices. _Either way, I owe her a lot. And this is something I can't figure out on my own anyway._

Sonic found her huddled against the wall of the cell, her head buried in her knees. Upon hearing his entrance, Amy looked up with wide eyes, obviously surprised to see him. "Sonic I-"

"Amy, there's a lot I need to tell you and not much time at all. I'm so sorry," he said and then stopped short. He was at a loss for words; what could he do this time?

"S-Sonic..." Amy caught his blank and devastated expression and realized this was much bigger than the problem they'd faced earlier.

"I...I don't know what to do. I don't know how...to be the hero here," he admitted, his eyes a blank stare to the other end of the room.

"Sonic, what's going on?" A flash caught her eye and she looked up to see the TV monitor mounted on the wall flash up a countdown clock starting on four minutes. "Sonic? What's that counting down to? Sonic!" she snapped him out of it, standing against the door to her cell now, her bad foot just barely rested against the floor.

"Amy!" Sonic immediately snapped back into reality as he too noticed the clock of doom. "I...I can't leave you again. But..." he sighed and took a deep breath. "Eggman has these missiles set up to destroy an entire town when that clock gets done counting. I can deactivate them easily but if I do you'll be sent away. And if I get you out of there...the missiles will be automatically launched. I can't let the town be destroyed but...I just...can't let you go either. What can I...I don't know what to do!"

Amy blinked but came up quickly with a response. "You have to let me go. And save them."

"See I knew you'd say that! What if I can't get you back after this?! What if I never see you again? Or at least not the same way!"

"Well, what about it?" Amy asked, catching the schizophrenic hedgehog off guard. "You'd be fine, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you regret the wait of all of those peoples' end on your shoulders more than mine?"

Sonic stared at her with wide eyes. "I...I don't think I would."

"How can you even say that?!" Amy said with a violent change in mood. "How can you play with my heart so much for so long and still think I can believe something that insane."

"Because I-"

"Because what, Sonic? What could make you even consider trying to save me-or even _confront _me for that matter-in a situation like this?!"

"Because I love you, Amy. I really do," Sonic's blank but terrified eyes brimmed with tears as his whole heart's being was poured out into the open air with just a few short words.

"No," Amy said, shaking her head as Sonic stepped up to the bars of her cage. "No no no no no."

"Yes, Amy. It's so true I can't even...I don't know what to do now," he said, reaching through the bars of the cage and holding her hands tightly together. She cautiously looked up into his eyes to find a completely honest gaze meeting hers.

"How can you...say that? How can I trust you?" she asked, already knowing she could but trying to stick with the beginnings of a plan formulating in her head. A hard, heart breaking one, but the only one she could think of.

"I don't know if you can. That is my greatest regret and I'll never be able to overcome it. Ever. But I do. And I...don't know what to do about it now."

"Let me go," Amy said, keeping a surprisingly even tone. Taken aback but unwilling to disobey, Sonic dropped her hands and took a step away. "I mean...save the town and let me go."

"How can I-"

"Sonic, I'll never be able to trust you if you don't trust me. And I need you to trust that I can take care of myself and be fine until I see you again," she gave him a strained smile to show she was being completely serious. "If you love something...let it go. If it comes back to you, its yours forever."

"And if it doesn't?"

Amy tore her gave to the floor so he wouldn't see her own eyes filling back up with tears. "Then it was never meant to be."

"Amy..."

"Sonic, you have to trust me," she stole a glance at the counter, now at two minutes eighteen seconds. "And fast."

"I...I do," Sonic said, feeling like a knife was driven through his heart as he said it.

"Then go. Trust me...that I'll see you again," Sonic took a cautious step backwards. "Go now!"

Without allowing himself another moment of hesitation, which could lead to his surrender of heart, Sonic bolted away from her to press the button before any more confusion or second thoughts could get in his way. "Just...please be okay," he said, his hand falling against the button.

Amy, with tears spilling down her face, smiled. "I'll see you soon."

…

Without even having time to realize what all had just happened, Sonic found himself standing, or rather tripping, onto the ground, having been abruptly chucked out of the ship after pressing the button. There was already no sign of the pod that had taken Amy away, which had blasted out of sight before he could even bat an eye, leaving him with no trail to follow and no clue as to where she had gone.

Sonic dragged himself out of the road he had landed in and took a seat on the side of a bench, hoping to gather his thoughts. After applying logic, though difficult, he figured the best thing to do would be contact Tails and see what he could do to help, seeing as how the fox was spectacularly gifted in these such situations. Though the more than usual smugness of Eggman's demeanor put him ill at ease in thinking he must have a very well hidden base this time around. Oh if only he had told Tails before going after him in the first place!

Not wanting to waste time, or talk face to face with anyone, Sonic recorded a voice message and sent it to Tails through his communications watch to explain the current standings and what all his little brother figure had missed. Tails was prompt with a reply, saying not to worry and that he was searching already for a signal from the doctor. He would give updates for any and all information he received and Sonic should just try to calm himself down and meet back at home when he had had some time to pull himself together a little better.

Sonic did his best to keep a strong front, seeing as how he was in public and unexcused from his well known title as the hero of Mobius. Times like this were when he would rather be able to blend or disappear into a crowd like, excusing the pun, Espio or perhaps Shadow. But no, he still had to at least fake a smile for all of the waving children and adult fans alike.

Sonic sighed, trying his hardest to convince himself that this was only a temporary situation and that he _would_ see Amy again. He had to! But then...

_Never meant to be. What if..._we_ weren't?_

He felt crushed, even by the scarceness of the crowd around him and took off to get away. Somewhere that he could be alone to clear his head. There had to be something else he could do! Without his mind connecting with his feet for a whole ten minutes, Sonic ran almost aimlessly, not even bothering to observe his surroundings until he found himself stopped in a familiar place.

_Amy's Meadow. _

The speedster looked around, trying to steady his breathing. Memories of that day a few weeks ago came back to him in a flood of reminiscence. He fell to his knees and let the nostalgia drift over him in a surprisingly peaceful wave.

Something caught his eye just as he was beginning to regather his mental focus. A beautiful flowering bush sat just a few feet away from him with the most amazing flowers he'd ever seen. Lavender roses. Sonic took a deep breath and gave a half smile, gingerly reaching out and gently taking one from the bush.

_If it comes back to you, it's yours forever. Amy Rose, you will be mine. Forever. It's not even a choice within your control at this point._

He stood back up and cradled the flower, now knowing and completely accepting that he WOULD see her again. He _had_ to! It was inevitable; no way to be avoided. Sonic ran back to Amy's house, still making it in just a few minutes time even though his pace was much below par for the speedsters regular pace. He stopped and stood on her front porch a moment, taking slow, almost cautious steps into the house.

_She won't be gone forever. She has to come back. We HAVE to..._

He trailed off, hearing a mechanical sort of sound outside. Had Tails come to find him here? Or perhaps Eggman sending in a robot to kick him while he was down? Sonic went slowly back out to investigate just in time to see a small ship blasting away and out of sight. Anger built in him and a thirst for revenge against the evil genius and Sonic revved to take off after it when-

"Sonic!" a voice stopped him before he had even moved and he spun quickly around to see Amy trying to carefully navigate her way to the front yard without her crutches. "Sonic I-"

"Amy!" Sonic yelled her name and was almost instantly in front of her, swooping her up into a hug and holding her so tightly against him that neither could breath. "I knew it. I _knew_ I'd see you again," he breathed against her.

"I know," she whispered back, trying to conserve precious air, as neither of them had any intentions of loosening their grip on one another, much less letting go!

After a moment more of hugging, Sonic released her back to the ground and held her half an arm's distance away to look her in the eyes as he spoke. "Amy Rose, I love you. I love you with all my heart and now that I've crossed 'let go' off the list, I'm never going to again."

Amy's eyes brimmed with tears of joy and she could see first hand the honesty of every word he said. She shook her head ever so slightly and leaned back against him. "You won't have to."

They both smiled and pulled one another into a warming hug. Several minutes passed, both of them unwilling to leave this spot or moment, wanting to stay like this forever. The only interruption was Sonic's wrist communicator watch, which pulled them back to reality to Sonic could respond to a seemingly urgent chat with Tails.

"Sonic! I think Eggman is-"

"Gone," Sonic broke in before Tails could get too worked up. "And Amy is right here with me now."

"What but how did she get away?" Tails asked.

"Technically...I didn't," Amy admitted. "Eggman let me go. He may be an evil genius and have close to no regard for public safety and state of being but...when he saw what Sonic said on the ship..." Amy sighed contentedly. "Not even he's completely heartless. For now, anyway."

Sonic and Tails both broke out into wide smiles and Sonic just barely resisted the strong urge to lift her into another hug, only stopping for Tails's sake as of the odd video screen that may come up with.

"That's actually kind of incredible," Tails said, taken aback by this new advancement. "Especially for Eggman; I...I never thought he'd do something like this."

"Maybe even evil scientists understand tragedies of the heart," Sonic said rather optimistically.

Amy nodded. "I don't doubt he'll try to make up for it with another evil scheme pretty soon, but for now...I think he really gets stuff."

They all agreed and Tails decided to go, if nothing else to give them some privacy. Amy offered to make Sonic dinner while he, in return, did a quick fix on her upstairs wall to last for the evening at least. After a few hours had passed, Sonic had got a few boards nailed in over the hole and a tarp to cover any other gaps. There was still work to do, but with night just around the corner and Amy's surprise dinner just being finished, he called it a night.

"Okay, Sonic. What are the two best foods in the world?" Amy asked as he came into the kitchen.

"Oh gee, that sure is tough," he said sarcastically. "Chili dogs and...I guess pizza."

"What if I told you that I was able to combine them?" she asked in a mock creator of Frankenstein voice.

"Not possible, woman! You've gone _mad!_"

"Or have I?" she asked, unveiling a delicious smelling pizza with sliced hot dogs for a topping, extra cheese, and what looked like chili in place of pizza sauce. Sonic's jaw dropped and his hand hovered in awe above the delicacy. Amy giggled and held it out for him to try a piece. "Just tell me if it's any good."

Sonic took one bite and seemed to be floating on a cloud. "It's...it's a zillion percent perfection! You must now make this for me every day for the rest of my life." Amy laughed and tried a piece herself, nodding in satisfaction.

Sonic had messaged Tails and said he would be home not too long after dark that evening, so as soon as they finished their dinner, he had to get going, promising to return first thing in the morning. Amy walked Sonic to the door and he thanked her for the pizza, especially since she had taken the time to make an extra to send him home with, as to not bother Tails to fix his new midnight snack in advance as soon as he got there.

"Sonic...I know I got really upset with you earlier and I'm sorry I was so quick to jump to conclusions with everything, but I just wanted to say-"

"I'm sorry, Ames," Sonic cut her off. "I'm sorry...for leading you on all this time and causing you so much more confusion and heartbreak than you should've ever had to endure. I'm so lucky that you're so forgiving and you'll still even give me the time of day after this long and I want to make it up to you. Not about your leg or getting captured all the time or any of that! I want to make up for all the times...I haven't told you how I feel about you. I want you to know every day how much I love you...because that's what you deserve. And when I've caught up to all the times I haven't..." he trailed off, not knowing how to finish the thought.

Amy, with her own feelings rising up inside her at that moment, took his pause as the perfect opportunity to make her own statement. She reached up on one foot as best she could and pressed her lips against his. The gesture was so well placed that Sonic found himself sinking right into it rather than being taken off guard. They remained like this for several full minutes before either had the audacity- or lack of air, rather- to break away.

Amy laid against him for a moment as he held her close to him. "That was perfect," she whispered.

"Does this mean I win?" Sonic was somehow able to keep a sweet whispering tone even as he teased.

A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth and for that lasting moment of bliss, there was nothing but perfection surrounding the two. "Yeah, Sonic. You win."


End file.
